[HN Gopher] When Jawaharlal Nehru Read 'Lolita'
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When Jawaharlal Nehru Read 'Lolita'
Author : lermontov
Score : 49 points
Date : 2022-06-07 18:32 UTC (1 days ago)
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| sharkjacobs wrote:
| > The book is certainly not pornographic in the normal sense of
| the word. It is, as I have said, a serious book, seriously
| written.
|
| > In this note, Nehru also pointed out that he would not hesitate
| to ban horror comics or books that deal with sex and crime and
| have no literary merit.
|
| > In the end, Nehru favoured the release of the stock withheld by
| the Customs
|
| > This case not only demonstrates Nehru's sensitivity and open-
| mindedness, but is also a rare example of statesmanship, where
| the prime minister himself read a book in question to decide
| whether it should be censored.
| superb-owl wrote:
| PeterWhittaker wrote:
| I've tried to read Lolita a few times, and have never made it
| through. Between the turgid prose, the abominably horrible
| narrator, and the pedophilia, I simply lack the endurance and
| interest.
|
| My daughter had to finish it for a uni project and she confirmed
| for me that the depressingly boring tone continued to the morally
| inadequate end.
|
| I've read a few of the "greatest" books of the last 200 years and
| simply cannot fathom how this one was so well received.
| systemvoltage wrote:
| Perhaps, one has to realize that the artistry here is clever
| cloaking of the most repugnant motif with the equal and the
| opposite - utterly beautiful prose that captivates the mind.
| So, in a way, Nobokov masterfully created this intense tension
| in the reader between the foreground and the background. If
| this book was a painting, it'd be right up there with
| Hieronymus Bosch[1], visually the most contrasting thing one
| can imagine.
|
| I can see why some people "don't get it", may be there is more
| to it. This is my interpretation atleast and I personally think
| Lolita deserves its reputation as one of the greatest books
| ever written.
|
| [1]
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hieronymus_Bosch#/media/File:T...
| leephillips wrote:
| I like your take. I agree about the status of the novel: it's
| taken a permanent place as one of the supreme artistic
| monuments in the history of the English language. Like much
| of Nabokov's work, _Lolita_ is in part a puzzle, with traps
| set for the hasty reader. It may not be about what it seems
| to be about.
| xeromal wrote:
| I, too, failed to finish Lolita. The prose is interesting, but
| I just couldn't get into the story.
|
| I'm sure I'll be derided for this, but I think a good
| alternative that you might want to consider is Perfume by
| Suskind. It has a similar over-the-top style of prose, but it
| was very enjoyable to me and it had an interesting story. Only
| the ending was a bit strange, but it was well worth my time.
|
| Give it a shot!
| tomcam wrote:
| It is easy for me to understand just about any criticism of
| Lolita, but "turgid" prose? In my mind it is one of the most
| beautifully written books in the history of modern English.
| That makes the book profoundly troubling for me, although of
| course I feel that no books should be banned for any reason.
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