.....There were unending opportunities for her to call the authorities. And if she was so mortified by his molesting, she would have done so....

We want this novel with this story, not only because without it there would be no novel, no story, but because in this instance the story is so interesting and, from the standpoint of fiction, so interesting. I don't think many readers see it as a crime being committed, despite the fact that society's laws, and ethics, say otherwise.

Ah, you're sure to catch it now, Joe. I wanted Bonnie and Clyde to go on robbing banks. A great movie, but light fare compared to this. The genius of this work is that we are fascinated by the crime that goes on and on; we are emotionally tugged away from our social mores when we want to "understand" and have pity for HH; we want to implicate where we can this rather shallow, difficult pre-teen; and we laugh at the wordplay, the social satire, and especially Humbert's constant self-parody. But interlaced, on practically every page, is our natural revulsion over these monstrous events, and heartbreak for the child victim.

"....what happens if you complain to the police of my having kidnaped and raped you?....Okay, I go to jail, but what happens to you, my orphan? Well, you are luckier. You become a ward of the Department of Public Welfare - which I am afraid sounds a little bleak...." -Pt 2, Ch 1, about p.7.

Yambo,

Sure there are pedophiles. There were also real knights in Britain. That doesn't make The Faerie Queen a work of realism. Humbert doesn't strongly resemble a real-life pedophile. I think the whole work is an allegory, and an exercise in word play. I don't think it is to be taken literally, at all.