“Lolita depicts the way our interactions with the world are often based on illusion, and on both our willful and unintentional reliance on hazy perceptions … And so every story is an iceberg. Or an ice sculpture. Sculpture, after all, is the art of cutting away, of finding David in a block of marble, or one of all the possible davids. Even a child eyeing a pumpkin in October knows that most of the work ahead will be deciding what to remove” (Turchi 66-69).
- 250 Word Summary
The book Lolita portrays the illusion-based foundation of our interactions with the world. It also reveals our preference, whether intentional or not, for blurred realities. This is perfectly exemplified in Humbert’s obsession with Lolita, aka Delores Haze. The object of his twisted desires is not the innocent twelve year old girl Delores, but the nymphet Lolita that Humbert has crafted in the attempt to satisfy them. As a result, the thoughts and feelings of Delores are silenced, suppressed, warped through the lens of Humbert’s obsessive eyes. When Delores becomes married and pregnant, however, the illusion Humbert has created begins to fracture as peeks of unpleasant reality filter in. Humbert is forced to contend with the Delores version of Lolita, the real person behind the nymphet.
Because at the end of the day, Lolita is but a creature in a fantasy world, a figment of Humbert’s imagination. Imagination is fleeting — it cannot sustain itself in the face of reality. But that is the intention of art: to bring readers into the world created, to help people escape reality.
Knowing what we do about blanks, silences, and omissions, now we must ask the key questions. Namely, how much is too much? Too little? And how do we know? Both putting in and keeping out too much can have negative effects, so neither is strictly superior to the other.
The answer to all these questions is purpose. The amount of detail to be included is specific to what an artist means to create.
In this way, stories can be aptly compared to icebergs, or ice sculptures. Stories are about cutting away the excess to get to David, the masterpiece.
- 150 Character Summary
Fiction reveals our preference for escaping reality and using our imagination. The question of what to put in or omit is answered by creator’s purpose.
