Abstract
Lolita is a controversial novel written by Vladimir Nabokov and published in 1955 that tells the story of Humbert, the protagonist, a middle-aged man who possesses an obsessed love and desire for the 12-year-old Dolores Haze. [...]
The Big Sleep is a crime novel written by Raymon Chandler and published in 1939 that tells the story of the detective Philip Marlowe. In the scene under study, Marlowe encounters Ms. Regan, one of the daughters of the man who currently employs him, whom husband has suddenly disappeared. [...]
Thus, while being on subjects very different, both extracts develop a relationship between a man who observes a woman, and in which domination and violence are omnipresent.
Extract
[...] Both narrators, either in The Big Sleep or in Lolita, reveals their lust, and maybe love or passion, in the case of Humbert, for a woman, which is demonstrated masterfully by the use of careful descriptions. Yet, this beauty is closely linked with the violence the men themselves possess, and the internalized anger of the women. [...]
[...] The one used in the novel of Raymond Chandler is quite neutral in the narrative itself and polemical in the dialogue; whereas the narrator of Lolita, who do not speak in our extract under study, his violent in his thoughts themselves. Then, the detective of The Big Sleep is in control of his physical appearance, on the contrary of the woman: stared at her politely through a pause" (l.27), "That didn't work either" (l.62). Thanks to the use of dialogue, we learn who is the first-person narrator thanks to Mrs. [...]
[...] Contrary to the novel of Raymond Chandler, violence is here not shared. It is clearly the narrator who controls Lolita, even though he seems to imply that she is also making him suffer. Thus, he is blackmailing the girl also had her dance for me with the promise of some treat or gift" l.3) and he is the one with money ("Her racket had cost me a small fortune" l.14). The possessives used by the narrator also clearly explains how he is entirely controlling the girl: "My Lolita", "my pet" (l.29). [...]
[...] Regan but also on her room, and both descriptions are linked. As in Lolita, the main color is white: "and the white carpet that went from wall to wall looked like a fresh fall of snow at Lake Arrowhead", "the white carpet", "the white made ivory look dirty and the ivory made the white look bled out" (from l.1 to "the tall white door" (l.72). This creates an interesting contrast with the outside of the room: "the windows stared towards the darkening foothills" (l.5). [...]
[...] Lolita, Extract - Vladimir Nabokov (1955); The Big Sleep, Extract - Raymon Chandler (1939) - In what way do these two texts express an ambiguous love of beauty and lust, which is inseparable from their violence? Lolita, Nabokov The Big Sleep, Chandler Lolita is a controversial novel written by Vladimir Nabokov and published in 1955 that tells the story of Humbert, the protagonist, a middle-aged man who possesses an obsessed love and desire for the 12-year-old Dolores Haze, nicknamed "Lolita", even though he has become his stepfather. [...]
