Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0001327, Wed, 18 Sep 1996 13:12:19 -0700

Subject
LOLITA, her spinoffs, & the Walter-Schiff Exchange (fwd)
Date
Body
From: Ellen Pifer <epifer@UDel.Edu>

In the recent exchange that so many of us have followed with
lively interest, I noted Brian Walter's kind reference to my relatively
brief discussion of LOLITA in my (by now old) book, NABOKOV AND THE NOVEL.
For reasons there outlined, I did not wish at that time to devote an
entire chapter to what was, and still is, VN's best known novel. Since
then, however, I have tried to make up for my initial restraint with a
number of articles that attempt, among other things, to distinguish
between the fantasized nymphet and the injured child. The most recent and
readily available of these is my essay on LOLITA in THE GARLAND COMPANION
TO VN; here I also offer some comparative remarks on a number of the
novel's spinoffs--not only Kubrick's movie, which has a few worthy things
about it, but Edward Albee's wholly misconceived and utterly vulgar
playscript (which did not survive its pre-Broadway tryout in Boston).

Ellen Pifer
English Department
University of Delaware
Newark, DE 19716
302-831-6965