Tomorrow is the 65th anniversary of the rape of Nabokov's 'Lolita': on August 15, 1947, the fictional Humbert Humbert -- monster, paedophile, scholar, wit and wag -- forced himself on his stepdaughter, 12-year old Dolores Haze: aka, Lolita. The novel that Vladimir Nabokov wove out of Humbert's obsessional desire to possess, control and violate this girl -- his 'nymphet' -- is one of the greatest works of fiction in the English language. ... August 15 is just about the only precise date mentioned in the book. The centrality of the Assumption to the novel, which is told in the first person, is rather confirmed by Humbert, when he tracks Lolita down years after she has escaped his rapine clutches."I definitely realised, so hopelessly late in the day, how much she looked -- had always looked -- like Botticelli's Venus ... " [ ] what distinguishes that particular painting is that the adult figure of Venus is born intact, just as the Virgin Mary was, in Catholic mythology, assumed into heaven intact: thus the very same process, only in reverse.
Moreover to the neo-Platonists of Boticelli's time, Venus was not merely the goddess of love, but also a metaphor for the Virgin Mary: Stella Maris [ ] Ah yes, Vladimir, as always, even in death: Laughter in the Dark.