Lolita as a form of Exile

At first sight, on a superficial reading of the novel Lolita we could say that this nvoel is nothing more than the story of a pedophile or an erotic book, but if we look

closer we can clearly notice that Lolita is a blend of ideas of a subtle profoundness .Even Vladimir Nabokov admits in his Afterword n a !ook Entitled Lolita" that in there are

used some technical procedures at the beginning of the book and the best e#ample is $umbert %s diary which may mislead the reader ,and making him believe that he has a licentious book in front of his eyes ,but at the same time he admits that the pornography implies mediocrity and a certain kind of plot which comes only for the se#ual stimulation of the reader .And this is not the case in the present book. Lolita is not merely about pedophilia, as $umbert says , rather than describing those details of the seduction at the Enchanted $unters hotel,% Anybody can imagine those elements of animality. A greater endeavor lures on me on to fi# once for all the perilous magic of nymphets %&p.'()*.$umbert%s desires are those of a poet as well as a pervert ,since they reflect ,darkly, in a crooked enough mirror ,the artistic desire of his creator." +here are so many interesting themes in this novel which deserves to be discussed, but in my study , will try to e#plain which is the meaning of the e#ile in this book and how could be e#plained .+his main theme is presented from the beginning of the novel ,where we find out that the narrator is in -ail ,e#iled from the society because of his

ordinary murder ,until the end of it when we will see that the real e#ile for him is from his own self ,which he never reaches because of his desperate passion .+he author itself relates his writing with a kind manifestation of e#ile and lack of freedom when writing in the Afterword . As far as , can recall ,the initial shiver of inspiration was somehow prompted by a newspaper story about an ape in the /ardin des 0lantes who after months of coa#ing by a scientist produced the first drawing ever charcoaled by an animal .this sketch showed the bars of the poor creature%s cage"&p.('(*.$umbert, the ageing ape writing from prison,whose impossible love love metaphorically connects him with that imprisoned animal ,learns the language in his fashion and records his 1imprisonment% and his narrative is the 1picture% of the bars of the poor creature%s cage."&Apple (2 * +hrough his whole narration he evokes the happy memory of his childhood and tries to live again those wonderful moments. $is obsession makes him the slave of his own desilusional mind. $e feels that the happiness of his home as a child has been robbed and this way losing his self .3o in his obsession he does nothing else than running after his identity $umebert%s obsession with se#ual transgression has its origin in his adolescence when he lost his girlfriend 4Annabel, without having the chance to posses her ..$umbert will never be able to integrate himself in the society of the New 5orld ,where he comes due to an inheritance and he is constantly satiri6ing the American 5orld. the hotels ,the motels ,the superficiality of the American educational system ,or the parent children relationships &when talking about Lolita and her mother which are not able to understand each other* .!ut $umbert 1satires% are too often affected with an almost loving care .Lolita is indeed an ideal costumer" but she herself is consumed ,pitifully." Lolita will become e#iled from the places where she grew ,from her ac7uaintances and from the activities she used to practice ,after he mother dies ,having no alternative than to follow $umbert in his travels and in his odious plans .+his way she becomes alienated from

herself losing her identity ,too ,n spite the fact that $umbert begins this -ourney in search of freedom they become not only more alienated from the society but also from one another .,f at the beginning Lolita seamed satisfied knowing that $umbert likes her ,once the -ourney has started and their behavior becomes morally depraved she is disgusted by $umbert. nly by bribery would be able $umbert to have her physical possession . 8oreover ,since $umbert -ourney is undertaken ,having its initial scope to distract and amuse Lolita on the one hand and to outdistance his real and imagined enemies on the other hand ,the American landscape serves also as a 7uite functional ,thematic purpose for it helps to dramati6e $umbert%s total and terrible isolation ,as Alfred Apple says in his !ackgrounds of Lolita &p.()*. ,n their ways, they become enslaved by their monstrous deeds, and although they spend most of their time together, their union lacks understanding or acceptance. $umbert and Lolita are captives each of the other, imprisoned together in a succession of bedrooms and cars,but so distant from one another that thy can share nothing of what they see, making $umbert seem as alone during the first trip west as he will be on the second ,when she has left him and the car is an empty cell."&Apple ()* $umbert is aware of his obsession and of its power which instigates him to violence and even to commit a murder .+his fact can be seen when he refers to himself as murderer in front of the -ury. Ladies and gentlemen of the -ury9" !ut he prefers not to see it as a mental disease and involves it in a mythological atmosphere sustaining that he feel as being enchanted by the nymphet%s power .$e brings it closer to magic than science. ,n fact he mocks psychoanalysis whenever he has the chance ,showing many times that the doctors are not able to put the right diagnosis on him .:ontrary the e#pectation he feels very well in the mental disease hospitals .+here in isolation is the only place where he can put his thoughts in order and prepare to go back in the world that deprived him of the self.

+he society company doesn%t give him the freedom of mind, being the one who makes him feel alienated from his own person. ,n fact his e#ile refers mainly at his search of identity, at the e#ile of his spirit in the material word . +hrough the word 1e#ile% it isn%t understood the separation from the mother country or from the maternal language ,but the 8anichean e#ile of the spirit in a material word where he can never integrate itself ,and where only through art the image of the lost home comes out from time to time .&3idney 8anas ,'2);* $is obsession for nymphets is connected with the fact that he always tries to go back in his childhood years and to bring Annabel to life, on the one hand and the childhood image on the other hand ,this being the only period which makes him feel comfortable and which represents his reality .$e lives continually in that period more than in the daily life .3o it has a kind of double personality and he is in a continuant trial of unifying the two sides of himself ,but although he generally gets what he wants from the material life&possesses Lolita physically ,kills <uilty*,the fate &8c=ate"*being on his side &from his point of view*he always remains an e#iled in himself since he never manages to find his self . A striking thing in this book is the fact that the reader becomes a true prisoner of the $umbert%s deeds .As >an ?rigorescu states in @n 0oem al 8isterului si al :omicului "A +he Afterword of the Bomanian version of Lolita ,Nabokov managed to make the reader identify with the $umbert $umbert%s obsession and with his wonderful master of language ,humor and parody he deflects the reader attention from the immoral actions of pedophilias of $umbert..@sing the first person Nabokov created the always formidable narrative problem of having an obsessed and even a mad character meaningfully relating his own e#perience ,a problem compound in this specific instance by the understandable

element of self -ustification which his perversion would necessarily occasion, and by fact that $umbert is a dying man .$mbert is both a victim an a victimi6er ."&Apple ;C * ,n Lolita, $umbert e#periences two types of e#iles. an internal e#ile and an e#ternal e#ile. $is internal e#ile comes from his sick views of love afor Lolita, because $umbert believes that nothing is wrong with his love for underage DnymphetsD, but we all know that itEs not moral or normal .+his internal love and desire underage DnymphetsD causes his e#ile which in subconsious is responsabile to. an e#ile of normality. $umbert is out of reality, he is internally meshed by his passion for the wrong type of women. $e become detached from normal and moral society and doesnEt reali6e how wrong are his actions . +he second e#ile is an voluntary e#ile, an e#ternal e#ile which occurs with the perriod when he comes from Europe to America, and becomes nomadic, and moves constantly to not belong to one fi#ed place.

!ibliography

'.Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita, trad. de $oriaA=lorian 0opescu, ,aFi, 0olirom, GCC( G. Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita: Modern Critical Interpretations &ed. $arold !loom*. New Hork '22I, (.Robert Sheppard's Blog: Robert Sheppard's Literary Blog N.p., n.d. 5eb. C' =eb. GC';. !orld Literat"re #or"m .