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This bachelor's thesis presents a comparative analysis of Vladimir Nabokov's famous novel Lolita published in 1958 and Stanley Kubrick's film adaptation ...
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I declare that I have worked on this thesis independently, using only the primary and secondary sources listed in the bibliography. …………………………………………….. Author’s signature
This bachelor's thesis presents a comparative analysis of Vladimir Nabokov's famous novel Lolita published in 1958 and Stanley Kubrick's film adaptation produced in 1962. Firstly the thesis points out several differences that are in a broader sense connected to the process of adapting a literary work. Then in the individual chapters, it thoroughly analyses this process in the particular case of Lolita. Throughout the last decades the popularity of adapting literary works and recreating them as feature films rapidly grew. There have been several different methods used and believed to be correct for adapting them, while the most discussed was the question of staying faithful to the original work. The most important for the directors is therefore to realize the differences between literature and film and learn to grasp and work with them effectively. One of them is the change of narration form and the means, through which readers and audience get to know the essential information from the story. In a literary work, when focusing primarily on novels, most of the information readers come to know are acquired through the narrator's thoughts, mental processes and descriptions. These however, are rather static, passive and indirect, therefore are not very much used in feature films, which are naturally based on motion. The informative value of these aspects therefore has to be transformed into a more active and dynamic form. Kubrick limited “the freedom of interior monologue that is so rich in the book, he decided to go in the opposite direction, and make plot and dialogue the conveyance of all he wanted to say” (Bordo 302). Because of the generally more informative and extensive nature of novels, film directors being restricted by film's limited length thus have to decide and
Movies not only used different materials, they had different cooking times for their great soups, and had to be consumed in public alongside eight hundred other people as opposed to by one solitary diner. A film was closer to the simulated excitement of a soccer stadium while books were a meditative and private act—you sat down to read one or write one and the first thing you did was ignore the rest of the world. (113) In regards to the mentioned aspects, this bachelor's thesis analyses Kubrick's process of adapting Lolita. In the second chapter, the thesis presents the two authors, Vladimir Nabokov and Stanley Kubrick, roughly describes their lives, opinions, styles and achievements. In this part, the thesis tries to present interesting and above all information directly connected to the story and creation of Lolita. To stay as faithful to factuality of their lives as possible, this chapter is very much leaning on interviews they had given. The third chapter focuses on the cultural background in which both the novel and the film were created and that is mainly the Production Code and censorship of that time, which caused several problems for both Nabokov and Kubrick. It analyzes Vladimir Nabokov's writing Lolita , continuing with the struggles with publishing, Kubrick's desire to adapt the novel and eventually a long and difficult way of producing it. In detail, this chapter captures the cultural, social and moral standards of the era that in many respects influenced and restricted many of the artists' creative processes. Chapters from the fourth to the seventh represent the most important, the longest and the crucial part of this bachelor's thesis. Each of the chapters is dedicated to one of the four main characters of the story – Lolita, Humbert Humbert, Clare Quilty and Charlotte Haze. Each of them is divided into several subchapters, according to the different aspects, features or scenes in connection to the particular character that they
analyze. The aim of every part is to equally discuss the aspect in connection to firstly the novel and secondly the film. Occasionally, these analyses are enriched by the third viewpoint, that points out the interesting aspects from the second adaptation of Lolita , directed by Adrian Lyne and produced in 1997. However, the more thorough analysis and incorporation of this adaptation into the thesis would have to be a subject of a longer academic work, thus due to its limited scope the thesis mentions only some of its crucial points. These four chapters mainly focus on the aspects and the scenes that by comparing in the both works either differ, are omitted or added. Furthermore, it observes their cinematographic transformations and decides whether or not, and in what ways to they influence the perception of the characters and the overall storyline that a person has firstly when reading a novel and subsequently when watching a film. In the cases where the thesis comes to a conclusion that the adaptation of a certain aspect influences spectator's perception of it, it presents possible explanations and origins of these occurrences.
questioned by Alvin Toffler about this change of languages, he explained that “books written in Russian by émigré Russians and published by émigré firms abroad were eagerly bought or borrowed by émigré readers but were absolutely banned in Soviet Russia, no matter the theme of the story or poem” (9) therefore the majority of Russian speakers, who are naturally living in Russia would not be able to read them either way. He strengthened the fact that the reason of switching into more widespread language was not the financial side that would really matter. However, he believed that “one also needs some reverberation, if not response, and a moderate multiplication of one’s self throughout a country or countries; and if there be nothing but a void around one’s desk, one would expect it to be at least a sonorous void, and not circumscribed by the walls of a padded cell” (Toffler 10). Furthermore, regarding the structure of languages themselves and their textual differences, he notes that “English is far richer than Russian. This is especially noticeable in nouns and adjectives” (Toffler 9). And mainly because of this as he explains a huge difference between the languages, he decided to translate his American muse Lolita to Russian himself, because otherwise “ Lolita would be entirely degraded and botched by vulgar paraphrases or blunders” (Toffler 10). Among definitely interesting facts about Vladimir Nabokov belongs the fact that he does not like music and as he claims he has “no ear for music” (Toffler 9) and while at a concert he cannot keep being there and trying to observe the relationship between particular sounds for more than a few minutes. He adds “I am perfectly aware of the many parallels between the art forms of music and those of literature, especially in matters of structure, but what can I do if ear and brain refuse to cooperate?” (Toffler 9). Another such fact is that unlike other writers, Nabokov proclaims about himself that he never learned to type on a typewriter and therefore all books ever written, he wrote in
longhand. In addition, to each text work structure he ascribes different position of his body while creating it and says “Horizontal prose, vertical verse” (Toffler 6). In regards to Nabokov's personal preferences in literature, the two authors that he could not abide and who for him were hopelessly juvenile are Ernest Hemingway and Joseph Conrad. When being asked about his favorite authors he listed names like Joyce, Proust, Pushkin or Conan Doyle, who in particular may have served as a background for Humbert's and Quilty's detective tendencies. Among poets, he adored Poe and Verlaine and the prose genres that he never touched were mysterious and historical novels (Toffler 12). On the subject of self-critique, as the principal failures as a writer Nabokov listed “Lack of spontaneity; the nuisance of parallel thoughts, second thoughts, third thoughts; inability to express myself properly in any language unless I compose every damned sentence in my bath, in my mind, at my desk” (Toffler 8). One of the characteristic features of Vladimir Nabokov's style that is definitely reflected in Lolita is the oftentimes misunderstood subject or a central idea of the work. It is true that every one of his novels has one special topic that it deals with for its whole duration, such as chess, murder, politics or pedophilia, yet Nabokov's aim in writing is to encourage his readers to understand his works complexly and search the hidden, not explicitly presented themes and points. Among other features, he very much enjoys playing with words and using them as a place to hide ciphered hints for his readers. He is also very unthrifty when it comes to irony, sarcasm and ridicule. 2.1 Lolita , the Novel Lolita, the novel which Nabokov once referred to as “a fruit salad” (Jones) was not only the book that brought Nabokov fame, but also due to its controversiality, it was
obsession with watching, observing and eyes” (103), which leads to the important act of watching innumerable number of films. And not only the pictures they constantly watch are in motion, their lives are as well inseparably bound with the act of moving from one place or a hotel to another. Eyes, as part of this process, represent “the first major contact between Lolita and Humbert being when he sucks dirt from her eyeballs” (Lee 104). The direct interconnection between Lolita's eyes, film industry and her corruption is notable in two cases. When she kisses Humbert, she closes her eyes because that is how actors in Hollywood films would do it. Later, she runs away with Clare Quilty under the naïve impression of becoming a famous actress. Thus as Lee sums it up “Lolita's love of the movies leads to her corruption by both Humbert and Quilty” (104).
Stanley Kubrick is an American motion-picture director, who was born on July 28, 1928 in New York and died March 7, 1999 in England few weeks after releasing his last film Eyes Wide Shut. He is considered to be one of the most influential directors and is characteristic mainly for his exceptional approach to visuality and details, as well as his irony and unusual perspective reflected in his films. Moreover, he is also valued for his versatility and wide range of different film genres and topics that he focused on and oftentimes influenced their future in cinematography by marking them with his specific and original style. Kubrick was not only a director, but as well dedicated his time to writing, photographing and editing. Since he was a child, he also adored playing chess, just like Vladimir Nabokov. From his early age, he despised schools mainly for their educational system and he never had good grades. He thought that “the big mistake in schools is trying to teach children anything, and by using fear as the basic motivation. Fear of getting failing grades, fear of not staying with your class, etc. Interest can produce learning on a scale compared to fear as a nuclear explosion to a firecracker” (Urban). Therefore, he did not attend any college or university and instead followed his father's career and became interested in photography. He started to make money by photographing and after some time this evolved in his interest of film-making. He wanted to become a film director, however not until he accomplished this aim, he worked as a photographer. Later, he kept photographing only as a hobby. He directed his first film when he was twenty-three years old and continued doing so until his death. His widespread fame came with his first very expensive film Spartacus , produced in 1960, which introduced him to the world of big films with a working crew
3.1 Lolita , the Adaptation At the time of the adaptation's creation, in the late 1950s and early 1960s, Stanley Kubrick was the only one who dared to recreate a literary work as scandalous and controversial after its publication as Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita. The strict moral values of the time therefore predicted various problems with the film's production, which was held under the supervision of The Production Code Administration. The PCA was then responsible for many plot omissions, changes or additions. About Lolita's production, Kubrick said “If I could do the film over again, I would have stressed the erotic component of their relationship with the same weight Nabokov did. But that is the only major area where I believe the film is susceptible to valid criticism” (Leff 245). Nabokov's only objection towards Kubrick's film was “stressing certain things that were not stressed – for example, the different motels at which they stayed” (Toffler 1). Otherwise however, he thought that the film was absolutely first-rate. “Kubrick cut most of the novel's American panorama because, alas, Lolita was filmed in England” (Schuman 198). Observing the literary from an objective viewpoint, recreating a literary work and transforming it into a film always requires changes and can never stay the same, simply at least because books and films are different. Most of the objections against Kubrick's adaptation of Lolita blames him for not staying truthful to the original work. The critic Bosley Crowther even believes that “Mr. Kubrick inclines to dwell too long over scenes that have slight purpose, such as scenes in which Mr. Sellers does various comical impersonations as the sneaky villain, who dogs Mr. Mason's trail” (Crowther). That however, seems very much like a misconception of Stanley Kubrick's directorial intentions. As Lee believes, each scene of Kubrick's Lolita “works as a play in itself”
(Lee 113). For Kubrick, each scene has a specific meaning, enriches and develops either a particular character or the overall film's point and mood. Kubrick's aim in Lolita is not to present its point directly, he prefers to hide information and slowly reveal them via subtext jokes, indirect irony or work with camera. Therefore for instance Mr. Crowther's seemingly ‘slight purpose’ of Quilty's impersonations in actuality serves as an expanded insight into the character of Clare Quilty, which subsequently points at Humbert's lack of sense of reality and limited perspective, and finally also emphasizes the comedic genre of the film. Thus even if these two works seem as two conspicuously different ones, as Alfred Uhry notes “adapting is a bit like redecorating” (Hutcheon v) and should also represent a process of reproduction using different and new tools for presenting the story, than the original one does.
Generally, the public started to be more comfortable with loosening the restrictions set by the Code several decades ago. Geoffrey Shurlock, the new president of Production Code Administration, tried to use his influential status for the Code to be revised and certain points from it being erased. However, then the expected conflict between independent producers and extremely austere Legion of Decency arose. Several years before that, in the year 1947, the novelist Vladimir Nabokov wrote a novel about a man obsessed by young pre-pubescent girls. After the novel had come out, it became at once a nightmare and a dream of America. It was a huge sensation among people, it was widely discussed and rumored, judged and praised, controversially reviewed and compared to other pieces of literature (Leff 222). Before the first official publication of Nabokov’s Lolita , it struggled for quite a long time, till the publishers admitted that the novel is worthy of being published. In the early days of Lolita , the book just roamed around New York on its own and was finding its readers through several bootlegged copies that existed. When Nabokov got annoyed and disappointed by the unpleasant situation of the book's publication, he decided to take a chance and send the book to Paris, where Olympia Press published it in English language in 1955. A year after on August the 18th^ of 1958, Lolita was finally published in America. Because of its subject and controversy, it again started an unstoppable avalanche of rumors, reviews and contradictory opinions. Within a few days, America totally condemned the book. People called it “dull”, “repulsive” and “an obscene chronicle of murder and a child's destruction” (Leff 224). Nevertheless, the opinions presented in media and press were exclusively single-sided and subjective, since all others would have no chance to get there. In September 1958, a few weeks after the book's publication, a young director Stanley Kubrick and his partner James Harris had optioned the novel and contacted
Shurlock about it. After producing Stanley Kubrick's first expensive film Spartacus , he got used to the idea of big budgets and financing and wanted the same for Lolita , therefore aspired for one of the top production companies, which naturally required having the Seal. After the key meeting with Shurlock in 1958, all hinged on financing, which hinged on the approval of the Production Code Administration (Leff 226). Expectedly, the fact of a twelve-year old Lolita and much older lover Humbert seemed to be the biggest problem right from the beginning. The first company that Kubrick turned to, United Artists, found both Kubrick and Harris presumptuous and arrogant and refused to make any kind of deal with “a couple of youngsters” (Leff 227). Afterwards, they turned to Warner Bros. and Columbia, which both eventually passed on Lolita. After the great struggle, production company Seven Arts offered them a chance, Kubrick purchased the novel for a reported $125,000 and Nabokov was offered to author the screenplay for Lolita. The first and the biggest concern was again Lolita's age. The Production Code Administration instructed them that Lolita can remain twelve but has to be Humbert's wife, or she has to be older, in which case she can be his lover, but under no circumstances twelve and unwed (Leff 228). While Nabokov was working hard on the screenplay, Kubrick was choosing the actors for the main characters. The most important was the choice of the actress for Lolita. The one that tried to get the part the most was the actress Tuesday Weld who said “I don't have to play it, I was Lolita” (Black 204). The role was eventually won by a twelve-year-old blonde model Sue Lyon. After casting all the other characters such as James Mason as Humbert Humbert, Peter Sellers as Clare Quilty and Shelley Winters as Charlotte Haze, they decided to leave America and start shooting Lolita near London, mainly to avoid being under the supervision of the PCA.
