Lolita
Only once in Nobokov's novel Lolita does the 12 year old girl mention to her stepfather the first time "... you raped me." But to Humbert Humbert, it had only been an expression of love, which would be repeated often during their two year escape across the country.
Humbert attributed his interest in young "nymphets" to a passionate romance in his adolescent years in France, which had never been consummated. Later he married Valerie, who also reminded him of a young girl, but when she left him, he moved from Paris to New England. There he married a widow whose young daughter greatly attracted him, and after his second wife was killed in a traffic accident, the daughter, Lolita, became both his child and concubine.
A slow trip across the United States was Humbert's way of keeping their unique romance a secret. When they finally settled down, the father let his stepdaughter attend a girls' school, but only to keep her away from boys. Any activities she was involved in, either at home or away from home, he chaperoned. Even during the school day, he would spy on her and other nymphets playing in the nearby school yard.
Their illicit relationship ended when Lolita let herself be abducted by an old friend. Finally, she married another man and was pregnant with his child when Humbert found her. But it was the old friend who kidnapped Lolita whom Humbert planned to kill, regardless of the consequences.
As the narrator of the novel, Humbert openly confesses his obsession about possessing his Lolita forever, which becomes the theme of the story. As her father, he could be forbearing, but to be his girl's lover, he has to pamper her with gifts or travel. He is willing to forsake all social life, both his and hers, just to protect their private relationship.
But Lolita, still going through her years of adolescence, does not find this so easy. She lives homeless, motherless, and nearly friendless, to obey and satisfy her stepfather. One time she asked Humbert, "...how long did [he] think we were going to live in stuffy cabins, doing filthy things together, and never behaving like ordinary people?" Her normal life does not begin until she is kidnapped.
Readers may be surprised that Nabokov's novel has no real sex scenes nor four-letter words. Rather, it was written to expose the varied effects sexual intercourse between an adult and a child can create.
Lolita is not an easy book to read, either. Vladimir Nabokov wrote this novel in English but augmented it with numerous French sentences and sayings. Humbert's personality is also amplified by his continual play-on-words and name-changing.
Since Lolita was published in 1955, Vladimir Nabokov has become recognized as a "master prose stylists in both Russian and English..." This book was also chosen as the fourth of the 100 best English language novels of the 20th century.