In a message dated 09/09/2005 03:51:11 GMT Standard Time, chtodel@gss.ucsb.edu writes:

My book also includes an appendix where an adult survivor of incest
recounted at length how Lolita was used by her step-father as a ‘how to’
guide for his sexual abuse of her. This is precisely what some defenders of
Lolita have point-blank denied could ever happen.

It is, of course, stupid of the defenders of "Lolita" to deny that this could ever happen. But if we were to ban every text whose selective quoation could be put to evil use, or to promote a view other than, or even diametrically opposed to, that which it embodies or explicitly states, there would be nothing left to read. Ms Morgan's argument is strictly analogous to that of a practising Jew or Christian who finds the Bible worrying because it contains the message "There is no God" in the verse "The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God."

Anthony Stadlen