Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0006074, Wed, 18 Jul 2001 11:41:48 -0700

Subject
Lolita ref.
Date
Body
Excerpted from Washington Post Online story "What 'Powerful' Men? by
Richard Cohen (July 21, p. A27)


Only a fool would deny that older men sometimes have power -- more
power, certainly, than younger women. But there
is power on the other side as well. The power of youth, of beauty, of
adoration stoked by naivete is virtually nuclear to
some older men. (Older women with younger men are not unheard of,
either.) What's more, some of these supposedly
powerless and innocent young women are totally aware of their power.

In a way, these young women are being infantilized. This was done to
Lewinsky who, when she finally was able to speak
for herself, turned out to be a very smart and very poised young woman.
All along, she knew what she was doing until,
as sometimes happens, she fell in love. It has happened to older people
as well.

The power of young women -- the power Vladimir Nabokov so brilliantly
parodied in his masterpiece,
"Lolita" -- never gets mentioned anymore. The so-called May-December
relationship -- an implied exchange
of benefits -- has become a one-way street.

When boys ruled the bus, a certain journalistic ethic prevailed when it
came to sexual matters -- protective of men. Now,
a different ethic prevails and it is, in a way, protective of older
women. They insist that all May-December affairs are
exploitative -- the man, of course, exploiting the woman. It is the
older man they loathe. It is the younger woman they
fear.