Abstract
This essay proposes two models for the relationship between Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita and its readers as allegories of the reaction of Late Modernist literature to the growing administration of culture – that is to say, as allegories of the way the novel reacts to its historical aging being progressively determined by the Culture Industry, as theorized by Adorno and Horkheimer (2006)ADORNO, Theodor; HORKHEIMER, Max. Dialética do esclarecimento. Rio de Janeiro: Zahar, 2006.. Two basic models are outlined: the first one is defined by how the novel manipulates the reader in order to avoid being manipulated, forcing the reader to judge the possibility of the narrator’s moral redemption and limiting him or herself to vicarious experiences of pleasure; and the second model refers to how Lolita demands being deciphered by the reader, which points to him or her being completely dominated by authorial authority.
Keywords
Lolita; Late Modernism; Culture Industry; art’s autonomy