Author: Academia.edu

Abstract: »When Lolita was published in France in 1955, the then aspiring writer Michel Tournier most certainly witnessed the succès de scandale that Nabokov's novel soon became. What is vital for analyzing similarities between Lolita and Le Roi des Aulnes, Tournier's best-known novel (Prix Goncourt, 1970), is that Tournier wrote a first version of its first chapter in 1958.
Several striking similarities can be shown between Nabokov's Lolita and a specific storyline in the first chapter of Le Roi des Aulnes that features the interactions between the male protagonist Abel Tiffauges and the schoolgirl Martine. Comparison shows the use of identical words like faunelet and many physical and psychological features that both protagonists share. Most resemblance can be found, however, in the way Humbert and Tiffauges perceive Lolita and Martine respectively. The identity of these girls is obliterated by the erotic and illusory images the male protagonists project upon them (“solipsizing”). This perspective is essential for the way in which rape and sexual abuse are described and perceived in both novels. The reference of both Nabokov and Tournier to Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland as an intertextual source for their novels is also relevant here.« (Source: Miranda)

Contents:

	Introduction (p. 1)
		The 1950s: Lolita and Martine (p. 1)
		Tournier and intertextuality (p. 2)
	Comparing Lolita and Martine (p. 3)
		Similarities on word level (p. 3)
		Humbert Humbert vs Abel Tiffauges: protagonist similarities (p. 4)
		Solipsizing Martine: the similar perspective of Humbert and Tiffauges (p. 5)
		Lewis Carroll: intertextual similarities (p. 7)
		Martine and Lolita: describing crime (p. 8)
	Conclusions (p. 9)
	Bibliography (p. 9)
	Notes (p. 10)
	Abstracts (p. 12)

Wikipedia: History of Europe: History of France | Literature: French literature / Michel Tournier, The Erl-King (novel) | Sex and the law: Child sexual abuse