King of Grotesque

It has actually been a while already since I read Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita but most likely due to the novels rather heavy subject-matter, I could not bring myself to write about it earlier, even though I wanted to.
Of course most people, including myself a few months ago, who haven't read Lolita, still know what's it about. It must be the most famous banned classic ever. So I can't really say I was looking forward to reading it. More so, I was just curious. But from the very first pages on, I could not stop reading. I was totally captivated by Nabokov's style and storytelling with one specific question stuck in my head: How can he write so beautifully about something that is so terrible?

Usually when you read a novel, even a crappy novel for that matter, you almost automatically take the side of the protagonist, who usually is one of the good guys. Surely, famously enough, there are literary strategies to make the reader distance himself from the protagonist, such as the Verfremdungseffekt created by one Bertolt Brecht for example. Of course many authors have played around with the common idea of protagonists always being the good guys, amongst them Nabokov. Usually authors who portray their protagonists as good guys even when they are not, give strong hints about the truth along the story line; just think about Dr. Jekyll for example. Nabokov however, uses almost no V-effects and only in the very last chapters negative views are combined to Humbert's actions. The fact that the protagonist is called Humbert Humbert, a highly unusual name I'd say, is probably the most salient clue that is given to the reader as a reminder that the novel is indeed purely fictional, no matter how realistically written.

Nabokov's style was highly praised the moment the novel came out and it has not reached the classic status in vain. For the most part, the unreliable protagonist tries to persuade the reader into agreeing with his world view. He tries to assure, that it is indeed the purest kind of love that ever existed that is found between him and his Lolita. If one is not careful, one can easily find oneself falling for the narrative tricks Nabokov uses. But then again, every other page one is reminded of the horrible story line and gets nausested again just from thinking about it.

All in all, Lolita was yet another classic that amazed me on more than just one level. The style, the hypnotic story line and the grotesque situation all carry to fulfill the same purpose; to create a classic.