Lo's Diary
AuthorPia Pera
Original titleDiario di Lo
TranslatorAnn Goldstein
CountryItaly
LanguageItalian
GenreFiction
Publication date
1995
Published in English
1999
Media typePrint
Pages363
ISBN0964374021

Lo's Diary (Italian: Diario di Lo) is a 1995 novel (ISBN 0964374021) by Pia Pera, retelling Vladimir Nabokov's 1955 novel Lolita from the point of view of "Dolores Haze (Lolita)".[1][2][3]

It depicts Dolores as a sadist and a controller of everyone around her; for instance, she enjoys killing small animals. It also says that Dolores did not die in childbirth, Humbert Humbert did not kill Quilty, and that all three are still alive.[4][5] Most notably, the novel takes the interpretation of Humbert as being unattractive or repulsive: he even loses his teeth at one point.

Reception

Reception was mixed to negative, with critics agreeing that it did not live up to the source material. Entertainment Weekly said it "drags down Nabokov's blackly satiric vision, set in atomic-age suburban America, to the level of a cynical 1990s teen sex comedy".[6]

Kirkus Reviews considered it "a mix of wit and tedium in near-equal parts".[7] Publishers Weekly found it to be "compelling", with "Nabokov's subtle and elegant prose" being replaced by an "authentic adolescent tone";[8] Time, however, felt that the prose was "undistinguished" and "far too precocious and knowing for even the brightest kid".[9]

In 1998, Dmitri Nabokov (Vladimir's son, and executor of his father's literary estate) sued to stop the publication of the book in England, France, and the United States,[10] claiming copyright infringement. Farrar, Straus and Giroux cancelled their planned publication pending the outcome of the lawsuit;[10] eventually, a settlement was reached whereby Nabokov would contribute a preface to the book[11] and receive half the royalty payments with a $25,000 advance (which he donated to PEN International).[12]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Peter Bondanella, Andrea Ciccarelli (31 July 2003). The Cambridge Companion to the Italian Novel. Cambridge University Press, 2003. ISBN 1139826107.
  2. ↑ Dmitri Nabokov (23 August 1999). "On a book entitled "Lo's Diary"" (Opinion piece). Nerve Opinions. Nerve.com Inc. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  3. ↑ Pia Pera (9 September 1999). "Lo's Diary (Chapter 11)" (Extract from novel). Nerve Fiction. Nerve.com Inc. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  4. ↑ Ralph Blumenthal (10 October 1998). "Nabokov's Son Files Suit to Block a Retold 'Lolita'". The New York Times on the web: Arts. The New York Times Company. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  5. ↑ Richard Corliss (10 October 1999). "Humming Along With Nabokov". Time Magazine World. Time Inc. Archived from the original (Article) on February 11, 2001. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  6. ↑ Winecoff, Charles (29 October 1999). "Lo's Diary". Entertainment Weekly.
  7. ↑ "LO'S DIARY". Kirkus Reviews. 15 September 1999.
  8. ↑ "Lo's Diary". Publishers Weekly. August 30, 1999. Retrieved November 13, 2018.
  9. ↑ Corliss, Richard (October 10, 1999). "Humming Along With Nabokov". Time. Retrieved November 13, 2018.
  10. 1 2 Garbus, Martin (September 26, 1999). "Lolita and the Lawyers". The New York Times. Retrieved November 13, 2018.
  11. ↑ Zanganeh, Lila Azam (February 28, 2012). "Reading Nabokov to Nabokov". The Daily Beast. Retrieved November 13, 2018.
  12. ↑ Gill, Alexandra. "Little Lo Lost in a Literary Feud". The Evergreen Review. Retrieved November 13, 2018.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.