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How Does Nabokov Use Satire In Lolita

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How Does Nabokov Use Satire In Lolita
Satire and Criticism in Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita

It took Vladimir Nabokov nearly five years to finish perhaps one his most famous masterpieces, Lolita. Because of Lolita’s subject matter, many readers during Nabokov’s native mid 20th Century were appalled and disturbed. How could someone write a novel about pedophilia, murder, and the sexual abuse and rape of a child? However, amongst the many offended (and particularly ignorant) readers, there emerged an understanding of Nabokov’s true intent by scholars, critics, and other (perhaps more educated) readers. Nabokov’s intent in writing the controversial Lolita was not to nullify or denounce the true horrors of Humbert Humbert’s crimes (he, in fact, tried to prove the opposite). Through Lolita,
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In satirising the middle class, Nabokov delivers an effective and realistic message about economic and emotional prosperity, materialism, and conformity. Especially in the case of American society, Nabokov makes his discontentment with these traits very prevalent [through the character of Humbert Humbert]. In criticising the middle class, whilst also writing about subject matter that had never been dealt with before, Nabokov creates an incredibly innovative masterpiece that has paved the way for many other Modernist writers. Lolita has, and will continue to survive through generations to come, and will effect the reader every time it is read; If the reader can look beyond the subject matter, they can find the myriad of messages that Nabokov successfully attempts to portray.

Works Cited
Nabokov, Vladimir V. Lolita, Olympia Press, 1955. Book.
Meyer, Frank S. “A Lance into Cotton Wool”, The National Review. 22 Nov, 1958. Web, 4 April 2013
"Nabokov, Vladimir." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online School Edition.Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2013. Web. 8 Apr. 2013.
“Freud, Sigmund". Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online.
Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 2013. Web. 15 Apr. 2013
“Nabokov’s Interview”. www.Lib.ru, BBC, Nicholas Garnham. 3 September, 1968. Web. 25 Apr. 2013
“Why Nabokov Detests Freud”, Hughes, Robert. The New York Times, 30 Jan 1966. Web, 8 April 2013
“Nabokov, Freud, and Lolita”, Masson, Jeffrey M. 6 feb, 2012. Web, 8 April

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