0:01

Lolita, Light of My Life, Fire

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of my Loins. It's one of the most

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recognizable introductions to one of the most

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controversial works in American history,

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Vladimir Nabokov's novel Lolita.

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This story and its titular character have

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been adapted, misinterpreted, and twisted

0:17

over the years by Hollywood, by

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music, by fashion, by fans of the book,

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and occasionally by the author himself.

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Lolita has gone from the tragic story

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of an abused thirteen year old girl to

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a cultural narrative that frames her

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as the seductress and to blame for

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what happens to her. So how

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did this all happen? It is a messy

0:38

and frustrating story. My

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name's Jamie Loftus, and I am a comedian,

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writer and creator and co host of shows

0:45

like My Year and Mensa and The Bechtel Cast.

0:47

I've been haunted by this book since it was recommended

0:50

to me in middle school by a

0:52

children's author, and with all the progress

0:54

we've made in the last several years of unpacking

0:57

the baggage that comes with media from the past,

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Lolita has kind of fallen by the wayside

1:01

in that conversation until now.

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On November twenty three, My new show, Lolita

1:06

Podcast, is going to start exploring how

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a firmly anti pedophile book got

1:11

twisted into the sexualized image

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we think of when we hear Lolita's

1:15

name. Today, I'll be taking you through

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the source material and its history as

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a banned book, to its movie and stage

1:21

adaptations, to the impact it's

1:23

had on internet culture of music, even

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the vocabulary our culture uses. It

1:28

is a long and mired history that

1:30

I think is worth taking a closer look

1:33

at. I'll be talking with literary

1:35

scholars, experts on abuse, directors,

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writers, fans of the book, not fans of

1:39

the book, my listeners, and

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the women who have played Lolita in all

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of the different adaptations to trace how

1:45

this story has been taken so far out

1:47

of context that it's become completely

1:50

unrecognizable and at times

1:52

actively harmful. It is a very

1:54

complicated and bizarre ride, because

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at its core, this is a story about

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it all of year old girl meaned Dolores,

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and I think that she's gotten lost over the

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years, So we're going to get to the bottom of

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it for her in Lolita Podcast

2:09

Monday's starting November twenty three on the

2:11

I Heart Radio app Apple podcasts

2:13

or wherever you get your podcast