Is Lolita an anti-pedophile book?

Lolita podcast host Jamie Loftus explores the confused cultural legacy of the novel and how its meaning has evolved over time.

Lolita podcast host Jamie Loftus had an obsession with Netflix series Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events in 2005. Snicket (a pseudonym for Daniel Handler) controversially recommended Vladimir Nabokov’s 1955 classic as his favourite book.

Lolita is the story of a middle-aged European pedophile, Humbert Humbert who falls “in love” with, then abducts and sexually and psychologically abuses his ward, 12-year-old Dolores Haze.

In this podcast for iHeart Radio, Loftus explores the confused cultural legacy of the novel and how its meaning has evolved over time as a cultural reference.

It is an inherently politicised text, and Loftus could be criticised for being too permissive by some, but too closed minded by others. Loftus speaks with fans, detractors, literary scholars, experts and survivors of abuse, directors, authors and women who have played the titular character in adaptations.

A phone line is set up for vox pops; opinions range from “I love the book but I think it’s misunderstood in culture”, to “I haven’t read the book but am very influenced by its cultural aesthetics”. Loftus’s favourite is: “I am a member of the Lolita fashion community and we would like to be excluded from this”.

Personal trauma can inform the reading of the novel and Loftus cites recent Rape Abuse and Incest National Network statistics: one in nine girls under 18 experience sexual abuse at the hands of an adult. Out of these victims two-thirds are between the ages of 12 and 18. Ninety-three per cent know their abuser. Loftus is herself a survivor and according to Brian Boyd’s biography of Nabokov, as a boy the author was interfered with by an uncle while still living in Russia.

In Loftus’s opinion Nabokov’s book is as anti-pedophile as a book can be with one as the narrator. To see around all the flowery beautiful language of Nabokov, Loftus views Lolita as a true crime book, a document about a criminal. As well as listening to the podcast I recommend hearing the audiobook read by Jeremy Irons.

Listen to the Lolita podcast on your favourite podcast app.

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