# Humbert Humbert - Really a pedophile?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humbert-humbert-really-a-pedophile/354691>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [April 29, 2006, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humbert-humbert-really-a-pedophile/354691 "2006-04-29T01:58:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\
**Post date:** [April 29, 2006, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humbert-humbert-really-a-pedophile/354691/21 "2006-04-29T05:23:34Z")

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Thanks for the details, though it doesn’t really change anything. Like I said, I know he calls it love, and he thinks (or at least says) that’s what it is. I’m saying he shouldn’t necessarily be taken at his word.

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**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\
**Post date:** [April 29, 2006, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humbert-humbert-really-a-pedophile/354691/22 "2006-04-29T21:20:07Z")

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There is a school of thought on Lolita that because its told first person, you can’t trust anything Humbert tells you. That he is making the situation seem romantic and telling you he loves Lola because he wants you to like him despite his past that he is compelled to relate, but his reflected motivations are suspect. He softens it, telling you about how he loved her, how she wasn’t innocent in her seduction, to excuse his behavior.

Its an endlessly complicated book, and that is one of the reasons it is.

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**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\
**Post date:** [April 29, 2006, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humbert-humbert-really-a-pedophile/354691/23 "2006-04-29T21:42:32Z")

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> [@Dangerosa](#):
>
> There is a school of thought on Lolita that because its told first person, you can’t trust anything Humbert tells you.

Yes, particularly because of how much he inflates himself and talks baout himself. However I see no real reason to doubt the mere \*fact \*of his love. Love is a strange thing, and strikes in strange ways.

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**Author:** ![anu-la1979](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@anu-la1979](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anu-la1979)\
**Post date:** [April 29, 2006, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/humbert-humbert-really-a-pedophile/354691/24 "2006-04-29T22:47:12Z")

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For an interesting take along the lines of what **Dangerosa** is talking about-read the Lolita book review in _Reading Lolita in Tehran_.

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