понедельник, 28 ноября 2011 г.
LOLITA AS A COMMON NOUN
Lolita is a nickname for Dolores. It is also a term used to describe a prepubescent or adolescent girl who is attractive and sexually responsive. She lusts after older men, and is lusted by them in return. The term originates from the Vladimir Nabokov novel ''Lolita'' which told the tale of the love affair between middle aged Humbert and his 12 year old stepdaughter Lolita. It became a popular term in the 90's when the teenaged Amy Fisher who shot the wife of her older lover Joey Buttafauco, was called ''The Long Island Lolita''. The term was also used a lot during the controversy surrounding the 90's remake of the 1962 film version of Lolita directed by the late Stanley Kubrick. The film which starred Jeremy Irons and was directed by Adrian Lyne, had trouble finding backers due to the controversial subject matter. 14 year old Dominique Swain played the title character, and the fact that a child actress was playing an underaged character involved with sex with adults fueled the controversy. Lolita is also used as a euphemism for child erotica, child porn, or barely legal adult porn. And also the name Humbert can be used in slang as a common noun, it means "pedophile" | ||
What can i say about the main characters?
First of all, I should say that there are not plenty of characters in the book. some of them appear and diappers on the spot and it's not necessary to pay attention to them. But I must give a short characteristic of three main personades : Humbert Humbert, Lolita (her real name is Dolores Haze) and Charlotte Haze - Lolita's mum. Let's start!
And.. I think this story would never happen if there wasn't Annabel - the first Humbert's love. He was only 13 when he lost his heart to her. But the destiny is rather cruel sometimes, and Annabel died ( she had an awful disease - typhus ). Since that very moment, since Annabel's death, he had a terrible scarheart. And he was obsessed by an idea of having a girl like Annabel, like his children's love that he cherished so much.
He married adult women in an effort to overcome his craving for nymphets, but the marriages always dissolved, and the longings remained. Despite his failed marriages, his mental problems, and his sporadic employment, Humbert still attracted attention consistently from the opposite sex, though he usually disdained this attention. He claims to have loved only Lolita, and his obsession eventually consumed him.
When Lolita occasionally shrinks from his touch, he views her reluctance as an example of her mercurial nature, rather than as a child’s repulsion at an adult’s sexual advances. Humbert claims that his feelings for Lolita are rooted in love, not lust, but his self-delusion prevents him from making this case convincingly.
As for me.. Humbert should have had a piece of advice from a specialist, because he was mentually hurt from his teen-years.
Lolita.
Although the name Lolita has become synonymous with underage sexpot, Nabokov’s Lolita is simply a stubborn child. She is neither very beautiful nor particularly charming, and Humbert often remarks on her skinny arms, freckles, vulgar language, and unladylike behavior. Lolita attracts the depraved Humbert not because she is precocious or beautiful, but because she is a nymphet, Humbert’s ideal combination of childishness and the first blushes of womanhood. To nonpedophiles, Lolita would be a rather ordinary twelve-year-old girl. Her ordinariness is a constant source of frustration for Humbert, and she consistently thwarts his attempts to educate her and make her more sophisticated. She adores popular culture, enjoys mingling freely with other people, and, like most prepubescent girls, has a tendency toward the dramatic. However, when she shouts and rebels against Humbert, she exhibits more than the frustration of an ordinary adolescent: sheclearly feels trapped by her arrangement with Humbert, but she is powerless to extricate herself.
Charlotte.
A typical middle-class, middle-aged American woman, Charlotte Haze aspires to sophistication and European elegance, but her attempts fall comically flat. She is religious and not particularly imaginative. Charlotte sees Humbert as the epitome of the world-weary European lover of - and in - grand literature. He represents her chance to become the woman she dreams of being, but her vulgar, self-conscious stabs at sophistication, such as her tendency to drop celebrity names and mispronounce French phrases, make Humbert cringe. Humbert usually refers to her derisively as Mama or the Haze woman. Charlotte’s love letter to Humbert traffics mainly in self-pitying martyrdom and melodramatic gestures. Nabokov portrays Charlotte with so little sympathy that the tragic elements of her character almost disappear. She dies, after all, knowing that the man she loves lusts after her own daughter.
And.. I think this story would never happen if there wasn't Annabel - the first Humbert's love. He was only 13 when he lost his heart to her. But the destiny is rather cruel sometimes, and Annabel died ( she had an awful disease - typhus ). Since that very moment, since Annabel's death, he had a terrible scarheart. And he was obsessed by an idea of having a girl like Annabel, like his children's love that he cherished so much.
He married adult women in an effort to overcome his craving for nymphets, but the marriages always dissolved, and the longings remained. Despite his failed marriages, his mental problems, and his sporadic employment, Humbert still attracted attention consistently from the opposite sex, though he usually disdained this attention. He claims to have loved only Lolita, and his obsession eventually consumed him.
When Lolita occasionally shrinks from his touch, he views her reluctance as an example of her mercurial nature, rather than as a child’s repulsion at an adult’s sexual advances. Humbert claims that his feelings for Lolita are rooted in love, not lust, but his self-delusion prevents him from making this case convincingly.
As for me.. Humbert should have had a piece of advice from a specialist, because he was mentually hurt from his teen-years.
Lolita.
Although the name Lolita has become synonymous with underage sexpot, Nabokov’s Lolita is simply a stubborn child. She is neither very beautiful nor particularly charming, and Humbert often remarks on her skinny arms, freckles, vulgar language, and unladylike behavior. Lolita attracts the depraved Humbert not because she is precocious or beautiful, but because she is a nymphet, Humbert’s ideal combination of childishness and the first blushes of womanhood. To nonpedophiles, Lolita would be a rather ordinary twelve-year-old girl. Her ordinariness is a constant source of frustration for Humbert, and she consistently thwarts his attempts to educate her and make her more sophisticated. She adores popular culture, enjoys mingling freely with other people, and, like most prepubescent girls, has a tendency toward the dramatic. However, when she shouts and rebels against Humbert, she exhibits more than the frustration of an ordinary adolescent: sheclearly feels trapped by her arrangement with Humbert, but she is powerless to extricate herself.
Charlotte.
A typical middle-class, middle-aged American woman, Charlotte Haze aspires to sophistication and European elegance, but her attempts fall comically flat. She is religious and not particularly imaginative. Charlotte sees Humbert as the epitome of the world-weary European lover of - and in - grand literature. He represents her chance to become the woman she dreams of being, but her vulgar, self-conscious stabs at sophistication, such as her tendency to drop celebrity names and mispronounce French phrases, make Humbert cringe. Humbert usually refers to her derisively as Mama or the Haze woman. Charlotte’s love letter to Humbert traffics mainly in self-pitying martyrdom and melodramatic gestures. Nabokov portrays Charlotte with so little sympathy that the tragic elements of her character almost disappear. She dies, after all, knowing that the man she loves lusts after her own daughter.
воскресенье, 27 ноября 2011 г.
wordswordswords
some new words:
ogle - смотреть с вожделением ;влюбленный взгляд
sundry - различный, разный (синоним several)
umber - = brown или УМБРА, как глагол - красить в коричневый цвет
grunt - хрюкать, ворчать, бромотать синонимы groan, grumble
lurch - шатаься, stagger синоним
junk - rubbish ,waste, trash, stuff
immerse - опускать погружать, опускаться с головой
forsythia - форсития
eroded - разъеденный, разрушенный
abysmal - глубокий огромный неизмеримый
deftly -ловко , искусно проворно
gibberish - несвязнаяречь
1.Total nonsense talk, unintelligible or foreign language. 2.Communication using various noises, illegitimate words, nonsense or sounds. 3. Sentence, phrase or general communication not making sense, sometimes induced by several days of smoking crack or other substance.
Все объяснения на английском любезно предоставлены сайтом urbandictionary.com
ogle - смотреть с вожделением ;влюбленный взгляд
sundry - различный, разный (синоним several)
umber - = brown или УМБРА, как глагол - красить в коричневый цвет
grunt - хрюкать, ворчать, бромотать синонимы groan, grumble
lurch - шатаься, stagger синоним
junk - rubbish ,waste, trash, stuff
immerse - опускать погружать, опускаться с головой
forsythia - форсития
glean - to understand what someone is saying, to follow something someone said, or a concept that is being put forth. Similar words include gleaned and gleaning
vagabond = tramp;| a lone wondering person often called a drifter or a loner, unable to fit in regular socity and has no stationary home |
abysmal - глубокий огромный неизмеримый
deftly -ловко , искусно проворно
gibberish - несвязнаяречь
1.Total nonsense talk, unintelligible or foreign language. 2.Communication using various noises, illegitimate words, nonsense or sounds. 3. Sentence, phrase or general communication not making sense, sometimes induced by several days of smoking crack or other substance.
Все объяснения на английском любезно предоставлены сайтом urbandictionary.com
The story must go on
I've got a serious problem. You see, now I'm reading Lolita for the 2nd time so that I could post ANYTHING pretty normal here.. Well and now i don't know why but I dislike the book very much. I got tired of it. Especially I got tired of Humbert Humbert, everytime I open the book, I have a feeling that Humbert Humbert is following me and wants to hurt me. From the first pages (when I only began to read Lolita for the 1st time) I began hating that little stupid hooker, the way she was talking to her mother was awful.. Nabokov created a very strange character as I think. Lolita was only 12 years old, anyway : she behaved like a 22 years old girl who was very stupid. D'you understand me? Nowadays I see and know plenty of such girls. Pleeeeenty of. And I dislike them very much. In her grey matter she wasn't 12 years old little-nice-girl. When her mother died, she sold her cunt to Humbert Humbert , and the price was too low. all he needed to do is just to buy trifles like sweets and give her some coins so that she could listen to the music in some kind of music-boxes. and also i began rereading "little women & good wives" and understood that i'd better use this book for my ind'reading (my CONFESSION) but.... to sum up : i DO think and found some very useful pieces of information there. and everybody who'll read it will be able to find some sense there . as for me, the story tells how cruel this world is and howcarefull we should be.
пятница, 7 октября 2011 г.
I've learned plenty of new words
I guess I should write here a word, a translation and the example of the phrase I could create using new vocabulary? Okay.
1. Typhus - сыпной тиф.
In the Past, plenty of people died of typhus, as there was no cure.
2. Pastiche - мешанина, всякая всячина, ерунда. The word of French origin. (By the way, as the main character lived some period of time in Paris, there are plenty of French words in the text. I suppose It's an interesting author's idea.)
Oh, such a pastiche! A can't bear it!
3. To wiggle - покачивать
Stop wiggling your foot!
4. Coltish - жеребячий
Oh, you're rather fat and you waist is too big. The type of your body can be called as coltish.
5. To waylay - подстерегать, устраивать засаду
A ruffian waylaid her in the street.
1. Typhus - сыпной тиф.
In the Past, plenty of people died of typhus, as there was no cure.
2. Pastiche - мешанина, всякая всячина, ерунда. The word of French origin. (By the way, as the main character lived some period of time in Paris, there are plenty of French words in the text. I suppose It's an interesting author's idea.)
Oh, such a pastiche! A can't bear it!
3. To wiggle - покачивать
Stop wiggling your foot!
4. Coltish - жеребячий
Oh, you're rather fat and you waist is too big. The type of your body can be called as coltish.
5. To waylay - подстерегать, устраивать засаду
A ruffian waylaid her in the street.
Some words about the plot
I'd love to tell a few words about the plot. The story begins in 1910 and that is when the main character Humbert Humbert was born. It's preceeded by the words "Lolita, my sin, my soul". Actually, the book is written as a diary of the main character. He begins his story from his childhood and from the first disappointment and experience that he's had. His beloved, his Annabel, died of typhus. I guess this very event in question made him be a tortured soul, but also a moster. That terrible occasion absolutely ruined his state of mind.
After some years, Humbert Humbert became a professor of literature. Also, he lived in Paris for some period of time, there he got married to a woman Valerie, but one day she betrayed him and made an act of unfaithfulness with a Russian officer. But our hero was not very disappointed - he didn't love his wife at all and she was just like a red herring for different people, so that nobode could guess his real inward nature.
Then he moved to New England. 1947. He decided to rent a small room, and occasionally he rents a room in a Haze's house. Charlotte Haze, the mistress of the house, was a widow in her middle thirties, she had a shiny forehead, plucked eyebrows and quite simple but not unattractive features that may be defined as a weak solution of Marlene Dietrich. She wore her hair in a brown-bronze bun, the landlady's eyes were wide-set and sea-green. She was rather polite with her guest, also it's possible to say that she used polished words.
Then, the Humbert's knees were like reflections of knees in rippling water, and his lips were like sand, and - he saw Lo. He became totally insane. That was the girl he has been searching for during his life after Annabel's death. She was 12 years old, she wore rolled-up jeans and was unreally pure and simple. Her chestnut hair was shining with the sunlight.
During a few tedious months Humbert Humbert was bored. He was writing his diary where he described his feelings and thoughts.
After some years, Humbert Humbert became a professor of literature. Also, he lived in Paris for some period of time, there he got married to a woman Valerie, but one day she betrayed him and made an act of unfaithfulness with a Russian officer. But our hero was not very disappointed - he didn't love his wife at all and she was just like a red herring for different people, so that nobode could guess his real inward nature.
Then he moved to New England. 1947. He decided to rent a small room, and occasionally he rents a room in a Haze's house. Charlotte Haze, the mistress of the house, was a widow in her middle thirties, she had a shiny forehead, plucked eyebrows and quite simple but not unattractive features that may be defined as a weak solution of Marlene Dietrich. She wore her hair in a brown-bronze bun, the landlady's eyes were wide-set and sea-green. She was rather polite with her guest, also it's possible to say that she used polished words.
Then, the Humbert's knees were like reflections of knees in rippling water, and his lips were like sand, and - he saw Lo. He became totally insane. That was the girl he has been searching for during his life after Annabel's death. She was 12 years old, she wore rolled-up jeans and was unreally pure and simple. Her chestnut hair was shining with the sunlight.
During a few tedious months Humbert Humbert was bored. He was writing his diary where he described his feelings and thoughts.
вторник, 6 сентября 2011 г.
The book that I've chosen to read
I've decided to read a book that woukd be famous all over the world. Plenty of times I've heard about the novel "Lolita" by V.Nabokov. I guess everybody know the plot, but I want to know it in detail and to understand whether Humbert Humbert is in love or insane, a tortured soul or a horrible moster. Or, maybe, he's all of these?
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