Lolita
Leland De La Durantay , published a 15 page report called “Vladimir Nabokov and Sigmund Freud, or a Particular Problem” heavily criticizes Vladimir Nabokov. Nabokov wrote the book Lolita. It is about a middle-aged man named Humbert Humbert who likes young girls (nymphettes). Durantay mentions Sigmund Freud. Freud started psychoanalysis which is “a set of psychological and psychotherapeutic theories and associated techniques” (google). In simple English, it simply explains why people act a certain way.
Nabokov does not have a lot of respect for Freud, when he said “ I admire Freud greatly as a comic writer.” Since Freud was not a comic writer, this shows a lack of respect that Nabokov has on Freud. Leland is then curious to see why Nabokov “dislikes” Freud. I too am curious to see why Nabokov does not like Freud. Leland criticizes and explains why Nabokov acted in that way “There are other reasons for Nabokov’s vibrant hostility. Like many other artists, he associated childhood with creation, and Freud upset the vision of Edenic youth that Nabokov ardently cherished.” He also claims that Nabokov does not like art “ As we have seen, Nabokov intensely disliked art—and interpretations of art—that he saw as mythologizing. Inasmuch as psychoanalysis has recourse to universals and archetypes...” I do not know why Nabokov does not like art.
Leland does not go too much into the novel, but mainly into the feud between freud and Nabokov. I do not think that Nabokov is being treated fairly by Durantay. I also think that the report is a little too long and it is hard to be focussed and read the entire thing. However, I too am interested in seeing what Freud did that made Nabokov have these feelings toward him. From what I read, Lolita reminds Humbert Humbert of his girlfriend from childhood, Anabel.
The picture on the left is of Sigmund Freud and the one on the right is of Vladimir Nabokov. They were the 2 main people in Durantay's article.
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