That by assigning Lolita I am perpetuating trauma and may even be perpetuating rape culture. This last suggestion runs so counter to my own beliefs about what literature does that I found it hard to parry your challenges. Let me try to explain myself now and make a case for why I will continue to teach the novel. I'd also like to suggest that what happened in class - if we are able now to process our discussion - is learning at its best.īefore I launch my defense, I wish to acknowledge where I went amiss. When I teach this book, I always keep in mind that, in all likelihood, several people in this room have experienced sexual assault. The numbers are staggeringly high some studies suggest that as many as one in five children experience sexual abuse. I accept your point from yesterday that I might have started our discussion of this book differently. Earlier in the semester, I nodded to the emotional and intellectual challenges of reading Lolita. However, I never addressed that the act of reading 300-plus pages is different than knowing the subject matter. The next time I teach Lolita I will make sure to address the emotional and intellectual challenges of reading from the outset. I will also announce loudly and clearly that students may choose not to read the book. That said, I would urge you - in this class and in other classes - to opt out only when you are experiencing emotions or reliving events that are detrimental to your health and not because you are feeling queasy, disgusted or morally offended. To my mind, not teaching Lolita would amount to a breach of contract.īut these other responses are ones we should learn to inhabit and process, including by discussing books like Lolita.Ĭould I do justice to Nabokov’s art without teaching Lolita? The answer is no. If I don’t teach Lolita, I am denying you the opportunity to read - in the hopefully productive environment of the classroom - the book that established Nabokov's reputation as an English-language author.
#XVIDEOS GAY RAPE VIDEOS PROFESSIONAL#
I would not be doing my professional duty as a professor and literary scholar if I sidestepped this novel. You agreed to this contract when you stayed in this course after reading my syllabus. The world of Lolita, though related to Nabokov’s other novelistic worlds, marks a significant shift in Nabokov’s oeuvre.
He wrote - after the book was published in Paris but before it came out in the United States - “It has taken me some 40 years to invent Russia and Western Europe, and now I was faced by the task of inventing America.” The Russian novels we’ve read remain at a distance that allows for safe intellectual contemplation.