JK Rowling, Terf author famous for writing about underage children, thinks LOLITA is a "Tragic love story" Not only is she a hateful bitch, she's a STUPID, hateful bitch.
"Lolita Podcast" is a ten episode deep dive into every echo and aspect of this book, its societal impact at the time it came out, the author's horror and amusement at people who misunderstood it, and the self report it has become.
open.spotify.com/show/4dvc06z...
I'll have to listen to it! I read Lolita in high school and once in college. It always really disturbed me how she was treated like an object and those who don't see it baffle me. Especially someone who is a WRITER.
"It's so beautiful and romantic!"
The first line of the book: "This man is a pathological liar and is in prison for confessing to horrific crimes and cannot be trusted. Sincerely, the certified medical psychologist who examined him."
I'm realizing that I just can't really explain people who have a knee-jerk emotional response to something and never examine it.
So like. Yes, I guess so?????
Also this is not a 'mysterious' Lynch-style situation where the author never explains their intent. Why not take in what Nobokov SAID?
This is a valuable observation. As someone who falls all over themselves for some incredible prose, I get that much.
I think there's also a culture thing at work. Boomers are like: any dude creepy obsessed and possessive is beautifully in love.
And millennials etc. are like: ... No.
It goes onto this boomer, particularly the thatcher boomers, focus on traditional normalcy and staying in the mold of a good healthy pretty person. Which makes her writing very obvious in what is "good" (the status quo) and why trans people are bad (they don't fit the status quo)
It's funny cause Americans aren't gonna pick up on this shit we all thought boarding schools with houses was some mystical shit Rowling made up instead of just a normal thing in the UK.
Hey now. I watched The Wall; I know they turn kids into sausages there. 😋
But seriously, I've read some interesting stuff about Lord of the Flies and how it was an indictment of the unnatural and harmful culture of boarding schools rather than human nature.
I've read about that too!! It's really interesting how cultural differences lead to classroom readings with a totally bananas context. Like how Alice in Wonderland is associated with drugs when the author was just really angry about math.
My favorite is that Fahrenheit 451 isn't about book banning/censorship, it's about kids being on their god damn phones (i.e. TVs and radios) all day and how that'll be the downfall of society. Bradbury is very mad that everyone has read his book "wrong"
I guess there was a little bit about the wife/society avoiding real human contact and intimacy via the seashell and creepy reality tv but that definitely wasn't the crux of the book; just another aspect of the degradation of society. Kids on their phones are at least talking TO people.
I haven’t read into it a tonne, but I was never too keen on Lord of The Flies being treated as a look at themes of human nature.
I do recall, however, that Golding really didn’t like kids. And in hindsight I think you can see that in his work, in this case.
