Georgia State University ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University English Theses Department of English 6-12-2006 Aesthetic Excuses and Moral Crimes: The Convergence of Morality and Aesthetics in Nabokov's Lolita Jennifer Elizabeth Green Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/english_theses Part of the English Language and Literature Commons Recommended Citation Green, Jennifer Elizabeth, "Aesthetic Excuses and Moral Crimes: The Convergence of Morality and Aesthetics in Nabokov's Lolita." Thesis, Georgia State University, 2006. https://scholarworks.gsu.edu/english_theses/9 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Department of English at ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. It has been accepted for inclusion in English Theses by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks @ Georgia State University. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. AESTHETIC EXCUSES AND MORAL CRIMES: THE CONVERGENCE OF MORALITY AND AESTHETICS IN NABOKOV”S LOLITA by JENNIFER ELIZABETH GREEN Under the Direction of Paul Schmidt ABSTRACT This thesis examines the debate between morality and aesthetics that is outlined by Nabokov in Lolita’s afterword. Incorporating a discussion of Lolita’s critical history in order to reveal how critics have chosen a single, limited side of the debate, either the moral or aesthetic, this thesis seeks to expose the complexities of the novel where morality and aesthetics intersect. First, the general moral and aesthetic features of Lolita are discussed. Finally, I address the two together, illustrating how Lolita cannot be categorized as immoral, amoral, or didactic. Instead, it is through the juxtaposition of form and content, parody and reality, that the intersection of aesthetics and morality appears, subverting and repudiating the voice of its own narrator and protagonist, evoking sympathy for an appropriated and abused child, and challenging readers to evaluate their own ethical boundaries.