Azar Nafisi's Reading Lolita in Tehran a Memoir in Books struck a good point on page 47, in which the author discusses her thought process after discussing Lolita with her class. "After our first discussion of Lolity, I went to bed excited, thinking about Mitra's question. Why did Lolita or Madame Bovary fill us with so much joy? Was here something wrong with these novels, or with us? war Flaubert and Nabokov unfeeling bruits?..."
This statement got me thinking a little bit, because it was true. It seems as if everyone has "evil" thoughts, and when we are exposed to things like Lolita it subconsciously makes us feel better about our evil thoughts. When reading about the author's description of Lolita, a book I was unfamiliar with, I found it awful and was disgusted with what I was reading, and yet I was more focused and interested then I was in the entire part of the book we were assigned. Just something I observed about myself, and this is all just my speculation.
This enjoyment of evil also comes out in humor. I have personally heard and made many jokes that are so horrible in the sense that the jokes are insensitive to a person or a group of people. I am conscious of the fact that the context of the jokes is awful, and so are the people listening, and yet we laugh together with little to no remorse. There is a darkness in the human mind that we are ashamed of, and so when we enjoy naughty things we tend to hide it. When someone comes out and writes a book like Lolita, or makes a joke about a racial stereotype or something, it sort of tickles our thoughts and makes us subconsciously feel okay about our darkest secrets.
I know exactly what you mean (I think). Last Spring I was in a Race Relations history class, and the professor started class one day with some racist jokes. The first one was fairly mild, and we all chuckled along with him, but as he went the jokes got worse. There was a terrible silent tension in the room, but I was sitting in the back biting my hand so I wouldn't laugh out loud. Its not that I'm a racist, but I thought the jokes were funny. Stereotypes are amusing, even the mean ones, if you have a certain sense of humor. Also, I was the exact same way with the book. I was most interested when I was reading the horrific things about Lolita than I was with the rest of the memoir. I'll even admit, I had more fun with creating a terribly flawed character than I did with the rest of the essay. I think it is in human nature to be fascinated by horror. It is almost like a terrible car crash or train wreck; you don't like what happening and don't want to watch it, but you can't seem to look away.
ReplyDeleteI've also read similar philosophies about how people react to dark or disturbing jokes and comments, people are inexorably drawn to them like people in Rome were drawn to the violence of the gladiators.
ReplyDeleteI believe Emily is right in that it is human nature to be fascinated by horror. However horrible that is. I think it is interesting that that part of the novel drew you in but it makes sense that dramatic themes like that would.
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