Patrick lectured me for my implication that he regarded humor
and seriousness as mutually exclusive:
"Mark, when you do this kind of thing it's called 'a strawman
argument.' That is, I say something and you reposition what I
say to be something you, or anyone else for that matter, can
easily refute. It's a form of sophistry and unworty of
serious argument. When I say Nabokov uses humor in Lolita to
TAKE THE EDGE OFF WEIGHTY TOPICS, etc, it does not therefore
follow that I think all humor has no substance."
I'll allow that, however . . .
"My point, which I'm absolutely certain you fully comprehend
at this juncture, is that while there is humor sprinkled
throughout Lolita, Lolita is NOT, like Jeeves Takes Charge,
Forest Gump, or How I Won The War, a 'funny book.'"
No, I do not at all understand that Lolita is not a funny
book. I understand that YOU do not regard it a funny book.
Several others have testified that they found Lolita very
funny. And I have heard other people whose taste in and
opinions of literature I respect claim the same. Is it
sophistry for me to find it arrogant that you allow no
correct response to the book but your own?
"Lolita is designed to give the reader an occasional smile
while considering the circumstances in life that can create
this sort of dangerous situation."
And we're back to my impression that there are some subjects
that you find so weighty and serious that you could never
regard them as funny, regardless of their treatment (I bet we
all have such areas, though not the same ones). Pedophilia
clearly seems to be such a subject for you. In a prior post,
you mentioned some morbid things you do find funny, but
(and excuse me if you feel I'm putting words in your mouth,
but this is how I remember it) that pedophilia is too
"dangerous [a] situation" to ever be funny. Hence my
inferring you find some subjects too weighty for humor.
Has Nabokov ever discussed his use of humor in the book? Has
he ever said whether or not he regards Lolita as funny? (This
is not rhetorical, I really don't know.)
Mark
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