I think what sums it up best is just looking at the covers most editions the book and the films have, because Dolores is so sexualized.
What was written as a complex psychological horror novel is still being billed as erotic romance, and I’m sure Nabokov is repeatedly rolling over in his grave like a rotisserie chicken over it.
What comments did Nabokov ever say about the book anyway? I hear the book portrays a pedophile in a sympathetic view and that the author never commented on the book.
It was the book Nabokov was most proud of, but also the most difficult for him to write. He’d been trying to tell a story about pedophilia in a number of ways beforehand with a few shorter pieces, but felt like he needed to write a full novel. It took him over five years and his wife actually helped to convince him not to abandon it.
Because the book is narrated by the abuser and not the victim, we get him as the main character. Even though it’s made clear that he’s an evil main character and a very unreliable narrator, a lot of people think that just because he’s the protagonist readers are meant to sympathize with him.
Also you don’t necessarily sympathize with Humbert, in Nabokov’s defense. Understand him? Sure. Sympathize? Probably not really because even with his weak justifications for things, he’s still an abuser, and you can easily recognize him as such.
Penhales 