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Recently I saw at least 3 videos on my Youtube feed criticizing the book and the movies for their existence. And I'm so tired and annoyed by this on so many levels, so I wanted to share my feelings with people who may understand.

I've never read the book, mind you - because I didn't want to read the story I had already watched in the movie (the newer one). But I have watched both black-and-white and normal-colod movies, and it was an experience unlike any other. I certainly dislike quite a few parts of it... But like a work of fiction.

People treat Lolita the book as if it's a real life event, and the characters from it as if those are real people, yet they also are of course extremely anti-MAP. this is so annoying, infuriating and aggravating on every level possible. i don't even like the main characters all that much, I'm just glad such piece of media exists and hasn't yet been completely buried. does anyone share my frustration about the book and the topic overall?

I must admit I never saw the movie nor read the book, however I recently stumbled upon the sprinklers scene and WOAW, it made my heart thump! Never had a love encounter scene made me feel that way before. I was like, is THAT how normal people feel when they watch romance movies with adults?

Liyowo wrote: Thu Sep 04, 2025 5:47 pm I must admit I never saw the movie nor read the book, however I recently stumbled upon the sprinklers scene and WOAW, it made my heart thump! Never had a love encounter scene made me feel that way before. I was like, is THAT how normal people feel when they watch romance movies with adults?

that scene is probably the best part of the movie, the rest spirals down into tragedy, quarrels and back-and-forth abuse + manipulation from both sides as well :') basically "will they won't they love/hate" but all the normies call the girl a victim

As someone who read the book i can comment here.

Yes modern readers of the book are trying to add some sort of moral message to the text when it is very clear you're not supposed to like any of the characters as none of them are good people and they are all flawed including Dolores herself.

The book starts with a Forward by a fictional psychologist named John Ray who admits that both he and his cousin Clark Esquire edited and tampered with the text but it is mostly intact.

Humbert was writing the Lolita novel while in prison for killing Clare Quilty and his lawyer gave John Ray the text after Humbert died of a heart attack while in prison before his trial even started.

In the Forward John Ray attempts to moralize the text and calls Humbert a shining example of moral leprosy and abnormal and says "Lolita" should make all of us--parents, social workers, educators--apply ourselves with still greater vigilance and vision to the task of bringing up a better generation in a safer world.

Modern readers have taken this Forward at face value however in reality it is actually meant to be satirical and a mockery of Freud and a parody of art and literature critics who apply morality to the entertainment basically saying an artist or author needs to have a deeper purpose and even a moral one as to why they create the media they create and the author himself has stated that Lolita has no moral message.

I recommend reading the book as there is a lot of stuff in it that the movies left out such as Humbert's previous encounters with underaged girls before he met Dolores including an underaged prostitute who lies about her age and his marriage to an adult woman who later cheats on him because he is physically abusive towards her. He is even constantly going in and out of the mental hospital and manipulates the doctors into thinking he is gay too lol.

I made a thread about this topic awhile back and i kind of touched on all of this

It is here.

https://forum.map-union.org/viewtopic.php?t=624&hilit

There is also, no doubt that Nabokov was probably a map in some way i recommend checking this video out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDSz_LnsEjA

FlowerLurker wrote: Thu Sep 04, 2025 7:07 pm

Liyowo wrote: Thu Sep 04, 2025 5:47 pm I must admit I never saw the movie nor read the book, however I recently stumbled upon the sprinklers scene and WOAW, it made my heart thump! Never had a love encounter scene made me feel that way before. I was like, is THAT how normal people feel when they watch romance movies with adults?

that scene is probably the best part of the movie, the rest spirals down into tragedy, quarrels and back-and-forth abuse + manipulation from both sides as well :') basically "will they won't they love/hate" but all the normies call the girl a victim

Good thing I saw the scene out of context then

mrlolicon93 wrote: Fri Sep 05, 2025 4:46 am As someone who read the book i can comment here.

Yes modern readers of the book are trying to add some sort of moral message to the text when it is very clear you're not supposed to like any of the characters as none of them are good people and they are all flawed including Dolores herself.

The book starts with a Forward by a fictional psychologist named John Ray who admits that both he and his cousin Clark Esquire edited and tampered with the text but it is mostly intact.

Humbert was writing the Lolita novel while in prison for killing Clare Quilty and his lawyer gave John Ray the text after Humbert died of a heart attack while in prison before his trial even started.

In the Forward John Ray attempts to moralize the text and calls Humbert a shining example of moral leprosy and abnormal and says "Lolita" should make all of us--parents, social workers, educators--apply ourselves with still greater vigilance and vision to the task of bringing up a better generation in a safer world.

Modern readers have taken this Forward at face value however in reality it is actually meant to be satirical and a mockery of Freud and a parody of art and literature critics who apply morality to the entertainment basically saying an artist or author needs to have a deeper purpose and even a moral one as to why they create the media they create and the author himself has stated that Lolita has no moral message.

I recommend reading the book as there is a lot of stuff in it that the movies left out such as Humbert's previous encounters with underaged girls before he met Dolores including an underaged prostitute who lies about her age and his marriage to an adult woman who later cheats on him because he is physically abusive towards her. He is even constantly going in and out of the mental hospital and manipulates the doctors into thinking he is gay too lol.

I made a thread about this topic awhile back and i kind of touched on all of this

It is here.

https://forum.map-union.org/viewtopic.php?t=624&hilit

There is also, no doubt that Nabokov was probably a map in some way i recommend checking this video out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDSz_LnsEjA

interesting. i love how deep your analysis goes, my brain is yoo smooth for something like that hehe. i may indeed read it but not sure when. thank you for the comment though.

FlowerLurker wrote: Fri Sep 05, 2025 8:41 pm

mrlolicon93 wrote: Fri Sep 05, 2025 4:46 am As someone who read the book i can comment here.

Yes modern readers of the book are trying to add some sort of moral message to the text when it is very clear you're not supposed to like any of the characters as none of them are good people and they are all flawed including Dolores herself.

The book starts with a Forward by a fictional psychologist named John Ray who admits that both he and his cousin Clark Esquire edited and tampered with the text but it is mostly intact.

Humbert was writing the Lolita novel while in prison for killing Clare Quilty and his lawyer gave John Ray the text after Humbert died of a heart attack while in prison before his trial even started.

In the Forward John Ray attempts to moralize the text and calls Humbert a shining example of moral leprosy and abnormal and says "Lolita" should make all of us--parents, social workers, educators--apply ourselves with still greater vigilance and vision to the task of bringing up a better generation in a safer world.

Modern readers have taken this Forward at face value however in reality it is actually meant to be satirical and a mockery of Freud and a parody of art and literature critics who apply morality to the entertainment basically saying an artist or author needs to have a deeper purpose and even a moral one as to why they create the media they create and the author himself has stated that Lolita has no moral message.

I recommend reading the book as there is a lot of stuff in it that the movies left out such as Humbert's previous encounters with underaged girls before he met Dolores including an underaged prostitute who lies about her age and his marriage to an adult woman who later cheats on him because he is physically abusive towards her. He is even constantly going in and out of the mental hospital and manipulates the doctors into thinking he is gay too lol.

I made a thread about this topic awhile back and i kind of touched on all of this

It is here.

https://forum.map-union.org/viewtopic.php?t=624&hilit

There is also, no doubt that Nabokov was probably a map in some way i recommend checking this video out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDSz_LnsEjA

interesting. i love how deep your analysis goes, my brain is yoo smooth for something like that hehe. i may indeed read it but not sure when. thank you for the comment though.

It is also, worth pointing out that unlike in the films where Humbert is his real name in the book it is actually a pseudonym and not his actual name and Lolita is the sexual pet name he gives and calls Dolores unlike in the films where it is her nickname that other people call her because "Lolita" is a Spanish nickname for the given name "Dolores.

John Ray the fictional psychologist also, implies that Haze is not Dolores's real last name and that it only rhymes with her real last name basically openly admitting that changing her last name was one of the few edits he and Clark both made to the text but at the same time at the end of the novel Humbert also, admits he changed some things as well.

I recommend giving it a read it is a great book even though all the characters in it are awful people including Dolores herself and Humbert is a very complexed morally gray character you hate him for his narcissism and abusive behavior but at the same time feel sorry for him and the novel does a great job of forcing you to empathize with him and humanizing a pedophile in a nuanced way.

I definitely understand and relate to your frustration. It's upsetting how so many antis will simply wave away any work that even depicts a subject matter they dislike. It's a total neutering of any sort critical thought, and the exact type of reactionary sentiment that ultimately leads to the suppression of sexual freedom.

That being said, I also dislike how some MAPs seem to want to "reclaim" the story simply because it deals with the subject matter of pedophilia and because antis dislike it. The book is absolutely not a work in favor of intergenerational relationships. I wouldn't say it's necessarily against them, because it doesn't really seek to make any sort of general claims about any sort of relationship, but Humbert is not portrayed as a virtuous man in the slightest. He is a predator who sees Dolores as a sex object without agency but who tries to mask his predation with flowery language. This isn't to say that Humbert should be universally condemned without any sort of analysis (or that Dolores is totally innocent), but he is quite obviously not a good man and it's frustrating to see how many MAPs will cling onto his image just because normies are against it.

Generally, I think the book requires a level of nuance that few people try to offer.

If you're interested in discussion surrounding it, you should read it yourself and form your own opinions. Don't listen to antis who hate it simply for talking about things they dislike, but also don't force yourself to support something simply because you see the enemy of your enemy as your friend.

gartellito wrote: Thu Sep 11, 2025 4:03 am I definitely understand and relate to your frustration. It's upsetting how so many antis will simply wave away any work that even depicts a subject matter they dislike. It's a total neutering of any sort critical thought, and the exact type of reactionary sentiment that ultimately leads to the suppression of sexual freedom.

That being said, I also dislike how some MAPs seem to want to "reclaim" the story simply because it deals with the subject matter of pedophilia and because antis dislike it. The book is absolutely not a work in favor of intergenerational relationships. I wouldn't say it's necessarily against them, because it doesn't really seek to make any sort of general claims about any sort of relationship, but Humbert is not portrayed as a virtuous man in the slightest. He is a predator who sees Dolores as a sex object without agency but who tries to mask his predation with flowery language. This isn't to say that Humbert should be universally condemned without any sort of analysis (or that Dolores is totally innocent), but he is quite obviously not a good man and it's frustrating to see how many MAPs will cling onto his image just because normies are against it.

Generally, I think the book requires a level of nuance that few people try to offer.

If you're interested in discussion surrounding it, you should read it yourself and form your own opinions. Don't listen to antis who hate it simply for talking about things they dislike, but also don't force yourself to support something simply because you see the enemy of your enemy as your friend.

This guy gets it Lolita is not a pro-pedo book but it is not anti-pedo either.

Nabokov was simply just telling a story about morally flawed people and exploring obsessive love and lust.

As i said above all the characters in the story are awful including both Humbert and Dolores.

It is also, worth pointing out that just like the satirical fictional psychologist John Ray who tampered with the text Humbert himself is also, an unreliable narrator due to his narcissism and poor memory when recalling some events on top of the fact that he mask his predation with flowery language as you point out which adds to the complexity of the novel.

I think the reason some maps want to reclaim the story is because there is evidence to suggest Nabokov may have been a map himself given he has other books poems and short stores that are either about or feature adult/minor relationships or children in a sexual context.

In Laughter in the Dark for example although the characters are morally flawed like in Lolita it is very clear you are supposed to feel sorry for Albert and that the underaged girl named Margret and her ex boyfriend are the villains in that story compared to Lolita where everyone is kind of the bad guy in their own way.

Nabokov has also, said contradictory things such as in public saying that he is nothing like Humbert or that his knowledge of nymphets was purely scholarly meanwhile in private saying things like calling 14-year old Sue Lyon who played Dolores in the 1962 Lolita movie a nymphet or that love could exist in the form depicted in Lolita and could last longer than most people assumed which he said to his cousin Peter de Peterson and In a conversation with Andrew Field , he declared that sexual tastes such as Humbert’s are “the commonest thing,” literary critic Lionel Trilling also, famously called Lolita a tragic love story which Nabokov agreed with so.... make of all of this what you will i guess.

Anyway i too hate the modern discourse surrounding the book normies and antis refuse to engage with the text and instead are just pushing their modern pc values onto a work from 75 years ago written by a Russian which i elaborated on in my thread they either refuse to engage with it altogether or try to spin the narrative that it is an anti-pedo book because they are desperate to like it which i don't understand why woke liberal women who were victims of CSA like Lolita anyway wouldn't it be too triggering for them? I mean i have the book on my bookshelf and my sister can't stand that i own it.

These same people attack JK Rowling because in the year 2000 she also, called Lolita a tragic love story but looking at the quote in context she was referring to Nabokov's writing style these people also, love to go around spreading misinformation too such as the famous Nabokov didn't want any girls on the front cover but in a 1965 video interview he shows off different versions of Lolita that he owns some of which have girls on the front cover.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVtwVcYbz7k

These people also, like to go around saying he was sexually abused even though there is no evidence and even though Nabokov did imply in his autobiography he had a sexual relationship with his uncle when he was young the way he spoke about the experience and his uncle makes it seem like he has no hate towards him at all but yeah honestly fuck these people who lack media literacy it is just so frustrating.