Alizée in her Lolita outfit, 2001
Lolita Lolita…From Gainsbourg, with Mélody Nelson, to Mylène Farmer with Alizée, Lolita has become a myth, a twentieth-century fantasy that won’t give up as we enter the twenty-first century. Pop culture seized on it and made it a standard. Pop nymphet, classic nymphet or slightly trashy nymphet: the Lolita dream has been taken up on all sides. So much so that we no longer know where it comes from… It was under Nabokov’s pen that the young girl was born in the 50s, and that the innuendo of an older man’s attraction to a young girl emerged: confusion, fantasy, playing with limits. The novel that disturbed and marked…
Nabokov wrote barely 20 novels.
In 1977, on his deathbed, he asked his family to destroy his last novel, “L’original de Laura”, which he hadn’t had time to finish. Published in 2010, the novel is better known for the controversy and ethical problems it generates, than for its content.
There’s still time before the start of the new school year. Having read Nabokov’s unpublished work: a great opportunity to strut your stuff!
The original Laura was begun by Nabokov in a Swiss clinic, two years before his death. Nabokov is characterized by an acute sense of rigor, boundless demands and a quest for perfection. So if he demands the eradication of this manuscript, there must be some reason. Does the fact that this novel is unfinished mean that it wasn’t intended for the general public?
Big money, family betrayal? No matter.
This book is not to be taken as a novel, but as a precious gift, encased in a jewel case; a discovery of the author’s writing process, a dive behind the scenes. The original manuscript is made up of Bristol sheets, still erased, which can be found opposite each printed page in the Gallimard edition of the book.
As well as being the mirror of Nabokov’s mind, it’s the mirror of his demons – demons he himself initiated. In this case, it’s Laura, though not yet Lolita. The book is a complex narrative construction, like a chess game: a structure that Nabokov appreciated. In essence, it’s a story about a double, a Dr. Jekill and Mr. Hyde: Laura and Flora. Flora is the real protagonist, and Laura her romantic double. Romantic entanglements in which Laura and Flora dream of each other, so that we no longer know who’s dreaming of whom, and where reality begins, or rather where fiction ends – but isn’t that the same question? A rich narrative structure that allows us to reflect on the limits between reality and fiction: a prolific question that inspires many authors and filmmakers, such as Lynch to name but one.
A novel that reveals another facet of the Lolita myth: 24-year-old Flora is said to have been seduced by her father-in-law, Hubert.H Hubert – don’t forget the M, the reference to Lolita isn’t even veiled. A novel that pays tribute to his obsession, a burning obsession: Lolita almost ended up in flames. It was Véra, the author’s wife, who protected the novel.
Poster of the film Lolita directed by Stanley Kubrick
A novel to be read as a testimony. It reveals Nabokov’s inspirations, leitmotivs and the way he constructed his stories.
Dimitri Nabokov has bequeathed a veritable treasure trove, enabling us to discover a new facet of Nabokov, more than 30 years after his death. The author’s ghost still haunts us, and never will.
Lana Del Rey, our new Lolita?
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