Reading Lolita: Desire, Obsession, Literature (In-Person)

What makes Vladimir Nabokov’s erotic confessional novel Lolita such an enduring flashpoint in debates concerning art and morality, censorship and representation? From its first appearance in 1955, to wildly mixed reviews, through today’s patchwork of perspectives regarding its violence, its lyricism, and its frank exploration of solipsistic desire, this “engrossing, anguished story of a man…of taste and culture, who can love only little girls” (Dorothy Parker) has raised hackles, provoked censure, solicited passionate defenses, and seen its eponymous object realized, and ironized, as a social type. What does the novel itself tell us about illicit sexual desire, about the narration of it, and about the place of literature as mediate between shared social reality and inner experience? What does the past seventy years of its anything but consistent reception tell us about the demands, expectations, and desires we bring to our reading? Is there—or ought there to be—some discernible line between art and morality? What are the risks and benefits of an art unanswerable to moral injunction? Can art transgress too far? 

In this course, we will address these questions by reading the entirety of Lolita, as well as its forerunner The Enchanter. As influential as Nabokov’s “all-American” novel is, it is rarely discussed beyond its psychosexual dynamics. We will delve into the many intricacies of this controversial masterpiece, exploring themes of sexuality, obsession, language, and the boundaries between art and morality. We will also discuss the cultural and historical context of Nabokov’s work and how it continues to impact contemporary debates on literature, censorship, and representation. Throughout, we will attend to the aesthetic, intellectual, and moral dramas that animate the novel: do “right” and “wrong” apply to literature? What distinguishes love from obsession? And can art ever fully come to terms with the ugliness, and the beauty, of the human soul—especially in their consequential admixture?

“Reading Lolita: Desire, Obsession, Literature” will also run online, starting Wednesday, September 10th. For more information, please visit the course page.

Course Schedule

Thursday, 6:30-9:30pm ET
September 11 — October 02, 2025
4 weeks

$335.00

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