Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0011718, Thu, 18 Aug 2005 10:21:28 -0700

Subject
Fw: My first time with LOLITA
Date
Body
EDNOTE. Marianne Cotugno responds to NABOKV-L's request for initial LOLITA
experiences. Although I did know of the Police sone "Don't stand too
close..." which was first pointed out to me by a student in my VN class, I
did not know there was a video.
I am dredging my memory for my first LOLITA and hope to come up with
something. I encourage all of you to send in your recollections.
------------------------

----- Original Message -----
From: "Marianne Cotugno" <cotugnm@muohio.edu>
To: "D. Barton Johnson" <chtodel@cox.net>
Sent: Wednesday, August 17, 2005 5:22 PM
Subject: My first time


> At Don's prompt and as a followup to Jansy's post, I offer my first time:
>
> Being born in 1974, I was approximately 12 years old when The Police's
> "Don't Stand So Close to Me '86" came out. This was part of a greatest
> hits album that was initially planned to be a re-recording of all the
> greatest hits, but there were so many conflicts within the band, that
> Don't was the only song they made it through (or so goes the story).
>
> I remember being prompted by the mention of that famous book by
> Nah-ba-cough to go to our local library and check out a copy of Lolita. I
> recall starting, but never finishing, the novel on that first try at age
> 12.
>
> Being fascinated by the song and by the FIRST video (the one with Sting
> playing the role of teacher), I *did* write a similar story in a black
> marble notebook that I carried around with me everywhere: it was the
> story of a student's affair with a young male teacher (again, all my ideas
> were from The Police, not VN).
>
> One afternoon I remember walking home and feeling paranoid that my mother
> would find the notebook, read its contents, and banish me to a nunnery, so
> I threw it down the sewer. I still regret that action - not because I
> feel the notebook contained great literary content, but who knew at the
> time that years later I would be teaching that same novel to my students,
> who NOW don't even KNOW The Police.
>
> My literary interests have been intimiately tied to The Police... I
> remember how with great dismay I discovered that the BEST line in "Bring
> On the Night" from The Police's Regatta de Blanc was from a T S ELIOT
> POEM! How DARE Sting do that!
>
> Marianne
>
>
>