Who is Lolita? The Nabokov literary classic has sparked infinite discussion in the 65 years since its release, but the cultural memory the book has left behind lives more in romance and fashion aesthetics than a cautionary tale about a deceptive predator and his young prey. Jamie Loftus wants to know how we got here, and this series traces Lolita -- the person, Dolores Haze -- from her literary origin to current status as a doomed icon.
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On the next to last episode of Lolita Podcast, Jamie takes a look at the lives and careers of the four women who played Dolores Haze in the four major adaptations to date.
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8: Dolores Logs In
Monday, January 18, 2021 • Duration 01:14:07
This week, Jamie dives down the rabbit hole of Lolita blogs and fan communities, beginning in the early 2000s and through now, and a look at the non-sexual nymphet fashion movement that Nabokov's book inspired. It's... complicated.
In Part 2 of our episode on the Lolita 1997 movie adaptation, we dig into America in the 90s -- a wave of movies full of teen girls as sexual demon, how The Long Island Lolita redefined Dolores to a new generation, and dive into the complex production and release of Adrian Lyne's Lolita.
7 (Part 1): That Time David Mamet Wrote a Draft of Lolita (And Other Hollywood Tragedies)
Monday, January 11, 2021 • Duration 58:55
It's high time we talk about the 1997 movie adaptation of Lolita by Adrian Lyne. Between Stanley Kubrick's adaptation in 1962 and Dominique Swain playing Lolita in the '90s. In part one of this two-parter, we take a look at knock-off Lolita productions, how the conversation around child sex abuse changes in Hollywood and America in the 80s and 90s, and how Stranger Danger misses the mark going into the '90s.
How long have we been judging Lolita by its cover? To be fair, they're not much help. This week, Jamie guides you through a crash course on Lolita/nymphet aesthetics -- when we say 'Lolita,' what are we really talking about? We take a look at the visual legacy of Lolita's book covers, persistence in advertising and how misreads of the text have been haunting pop music for generations.
Trigger warning: this episode contains discussion of child sex abuse and pedophilia.
"Who is that viper that likes them post-diaper?" This is just one of the objectively terrifying lyrics in a botched Broadway musical of Lolita -- the first an expensive, campy musical from the writer of My Fair Lady in the 70s, and another gritty reboot from Edward Albee starring Edward Albee in the 80s. We speak to the actors who played Lolita about the public pressures put on by the productions and the public, look at the many stage failures from the inside and out, and listen to lighthearted Broadway tunes about the worst crime a human can commit.
Content warning: this episode contains discussion of child sex abuse and pedophilia.
What can survivors of abuse take away from the experiences of Nabokov's Dolores Haze? It depends on who you talk to. This week, Jamie examines the popular psychologies of Freud and Kinsey that Dolly would have been surrounded by, and with two prominent psychologists -- Lucia Williams and Michael Lamb -- about the value Dolores's story has to students of psychology today. We also speak with Sarah Weinman about "The Real Lolita," survivors Alisson Wood ("Being Lolita") and Bindu Bansinath ("How Lolita Freed Me From My Own Humbert") about the role of Lolita in their own processing and healing from childhood trauma. This is a tough one. Thanks for being here.
3: How Did They Ever Make a Movie of Lolita? (1962)
Monday, December 7, 2020 • Duration 01:15:39
Well, they didn't. This week, Jamie dives into the backstory to Stanley Kubrick's 1962 adaptation of Lolita, interviews one of the world's foremost Kubrick scholars, examines Vladimir Nabokov's involvement and how the first Lolita, Sue Lyon, was treated on set and in media.
[Trigger warning: this podcast contains discussion of child sex abuse, pedophillia and the plot of the story Lolita.]
Vladimir Nabokov is your favorite author? Name five of his short stories written in Berlin in the 1930s. This week we look into how the author of Lolita's attempts at writing around the book's themes pre-dated his masterwork by several decades, the endless saga of getting Lolita published, some of the story’s earliest critical misinterpretations and the life of one of the 20th century’s best-regarded authors. Jamie speaks with Nabokovian Dana Dragunoiu and Nabokov's all-time biographer Brian Boyd.
Featuring the voices of Aziz Vora as Humbert Humbert, Robert Evans as Vladimir Nabokov, additional voice work from Anna Hossnieh, Shereen Lani-Younes, Grace Thomas, Isaac Taylor, and Miles Gray. Produced by Sophie Lichterman, Miles Gray, Beth-Anne Macaluso and Jack O'Brien. Editing by Isaac Taylor, additional editing by Ben Loftus. Written and hosted by Jamie Loftus.
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