'Obnoxious preoccupation with sex organs' : the ethics and aesthetics of representing sex
Jajdelska, Elspeth; Rodgers, Michael and Sweeney, Susan, eds. (2016) 'Obnoxious preoccupation with sex organs' : the ethics and aesthetics of representing sex. In: Nabokov and the Question of Morality. Palgrave Macmillan Ltd., New York, pp. 197-212. ISBN 9781137592217 (https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-59221-7_12)
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Abstract
Drawing upon anthropological and historical studies of constraints governing the depiction of intercourse, Jajdelska explores the ethics and esthetics of Nabokov’s representations of sex. While such ethical constraints survive despite changes in norms which Nabokov both lived through and helped to produce, this chapter claims that aesthetic problems arise from the nature of embodied cognition; a vivid description takes the risk of being an arousing one. Jajdelska argues that Nabokov shows an uncanny intuitive understanding of perceptual processes in his descriptions of sex in Lolita, when it comes to structure and anticipation. Her chapter highlights how Nabokov uses aspects of embodied cognition to create representations which succeed both esthetically, in being vivid, and ethically, in shielding Dolores Haze from the potential for the reader’s arousal.
ORCID iDs
Jajdelska, Elspeth ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1188-1627; Rodgers, Michael and Sweeney, Susan-
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Item type: Book Section ID code: 72227 Dates: DateEvent1 September 2016Published2015AcceptedSubjects: Language and Literature > Literature (General) Department: Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (HaSS) > Humanities > English Depositing user: Pure Administrator Date deposited: 30 Apr 2020 15:29 Last modified: 03 Nov 2024 01:38 Related URLs: URI: https://strathprints.strath.ac.uk/id/eprint/72227