BBC 4 Documentary, ‘How do you solve a problem like Lolita?’

 

How did I nearly miss this?

‘How do you solve a problem like Lolita’? 

A 1hr BBC 4 documentary that explores the moral life and lifestyle of Vladimir Nabokov.  Some charges against the writer: Aristocratic and sentimental? Pusher of an amoral literary agenda?

Quell your surging anticipations. It begins slowly.  The journalist – Stephen Smith – comes across as clumsy at the outset but he shows us some wonderful things – such as  the scientifically respected Nabokovian butterfly collection – as the documentary develops nearer the end. Most enjoyable of all are the clips of Nabokov himself; a man of perplexing opacity and gentle playfulness. In interview as he is on the page: highly serious and sublimely silly in a single sentence. The historic Nabokov family home makes an appearance ( at about 17 mins), helping us to process the degree of wealth into which the writer was born.

The documentary plays detective amongst Nabokov’s other works for predecessors or duplicates of Dolores Haze to uncover the good or evil intentions behind  Lolita. Martin Amis weighs in and casts his doubts. 

Lolita is a great book. It is an emotionally lop-sided charge into destruction written through the eyes of an individual incapable of empathy that could never be described as a love story (that implies a degree of reciprocity). Nabokov writes sensitively about young Dolores’ plight as the initial director of her natural sexual experiments and the sudden hijacking of her developement and destiny.   It is written with breathtaking intelligence on the subject of the problems of adolescence - so much so as to be able to nearly cover its own firm morality.

 If it fits into any genre it is also a road trip novel. Early nineteen fifties America whirls past in a boom of soda fountains, gossip magazines and motels full of suspect characters.

The documentary explores Nabokov’s other recurrent theme of the mannered European in post-war America, visiting Nabokov’s American touchstones with varying degrees of success in finding the writer’s essence haunting an office. Interviews with former colleagues and staff are more elucidating than the scenes of the journalist standing in a room connected to the writer and ‘taking it in’.

For Smith, the butterflies are the missing link. There is joyful (if very comfortable) completeness to the idea that distorted Humbert loves a plain child and therefore stunts her growth into a beautiful and autonomous adult and that butterfly larvae are known as ‘nymphal’ in their caterpillar stage. No firm conclusions about his character -Nabokov remains perfectly enigmatic for the earnest though slightly superficial efforts of this documentary but it is still worth watching for the archive material.

More on Nabokov in future. You can read a rabble of ideas on what and why Lolita and Humbert are, here at the Nabokov resource page Zembla.

Deal or no Deal?

This Monday the 21st was the launch of artist Katie Paterson’s project ‘Streetlight Storm’ in Deal (a seaside town in Kent). Paterson uses scientific data to inform installations of sensual interest. In this case, the lights on Deal pier will come on and off according to meteorological data on lightning storms the world over. Her previous projects have included installing a direct telephone line to a melting glacier and sending the Moonlight Sonata to the moon via the medium of Morse code.

In keeping with my love of all things regional, I recruited a travelling companion , donned some heavy-duty winter gloves and a DVD-camcorder and booked a train ticket to Deal. Unfortunately, we got as far as Faversham (where the French tourists migrating back to France were told on the platform that the port of Dover had been closed) before we knew getting to Deal would become severely tricky.  We hopped on board a resting London-bound train to sip hot chocolate in the  warmth of the stationary carriage whilst emotions ran high on the opposite platform.

We amused ourselves with Deal-related puns (orDeal , it’s my iDeal, i heard that Deal pier came in under budget, hoho! etc) and made a generic featurette on the theme of alienation set on the deserted platform of Ramsgate station (where we decided to turn back for London a mere 20 mins from Deal, almost certainly having missed the talk and also due to the ropeyness of the connecting service).

So no Deal on this occassion. I hope to see Streetlight Storm in a few weeks time.  It wasn’t a disaster. National Rail have refunded me on far  more tenuous grounds before (“I decided not to go.”) Touring the stations of Kent in the middle of a glorious period of harsh, cold, snowy weather with a consolation curry on the slippery ice-covered Brick Lane afterwards is what I would consider a good day’s work.

Merry Christmas all!

…Coming up

Glenn Brown review is here. I know.  The show is long over and the vintage is creeping up on that one. I’ll try to be more current in future, I swear!

Speaking of trying to be more current: I am planning a series of blogs devoted to the concept of the archive. Personal collections, freaky provincial museums and wherever people have devoted their attentions to the arraying of stuff. That’s where I’ll be.

More content on it’s way double-soon, lurching to you from a place a little more off the beaten track this time.

Ps. We can look forward to a re-design in the near future…

The Debaser – Glenn Brown

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Debaser – New Work by painter Glenn Brown

Gagosian Gallery, Britannia Street  Oct 15 – Nov 27 2009

The new collection of paintings and occasional sculpture in Glenn Brown’s show are peopled by bookmarks of art history. Stand-ins twice removed from where real people once where.

Bompas & Parr

 

 My eyes are full of jellies… waving like sea anemones

If you like bizzare eating rituals then you will love this. I present an interview with Sam Bompas, co-founder of Bompas & Parr, who love to play with their food. Bompas and Parr have not limited their horizons to jelly. They have taken the public ‘flavour-tripping’ in an experience involving a miracle fruit ( that’s ‘Synsepalum Dulcificum’ to you) which makes “lemons taste like toffee and vinegar like sherry”. They have also created a breathable alcohol installation. Now you can drink without holding one.  The Independent has recently named them as one of “The 15 people who will define the future of arts in Britain”.

A few months ago I was  searching for an interesting job to do.  In the middle of this protracted and optimistic period of searching, I came across an article on their Black Banquet project. I emailed my cv to (the very open-minded) Sam Bompas and through the resulting dialogue – well, I didn’t get a job of course - but I did manage to get this interview. Which is pretty fantastic. Read on!

…coming up

An interview with conceptual jellymakers Bompas & Parr.

Re-visiting the ‘Dinosaurs!’ part-work series from Orbis publishing.

A review of the new Glenn Brown show at the Gagosian Gallery.

A Romantic, a Romantic Dis-illusionist, Baroque and the Odd Man Out

The Turner Prize 2009. On show at  Tate Britain until December 21.

There is no link between the seven pieces of Lucy Skaer’s work on display. Or the links are in no hurry to make themselves known. This first available encounter in the Turner Prize display is a quiet one. Even the skeleton of a full-sized male sperm whale is quiet. Unnoticable on entry, it is hidden away to your immediate right, instead of being installed straight-on. Skaer shows a lack of concern with consistency of motif - a sign of confidence in an artist. Skaer is an artist in thrall to enquiry and she does not mind if you do not recognise her at every metamorphosis.