• Carguacountii [none/use name]@hexbear.net
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    9 months ago

    Fans of that book, or the literati, always say that, and yet its very popular with child abusers. No doubt there are those who read it and were disgusted. Most people however don’t need an elaborate fantasy novel to tell them that kind of thing is very very bad.

    If I’ve misunderstood the message, and others have too (it isn’t generally well liked, except in certain circles, usually called at least ‘controversial’), then we can be sure that anyone writing such material shouldn’t be a teacher, and certainly children shouldn’t be exposed to it - and the way communities work, children at such a teacher’s school would be well aware of any controversial publications they might have made. Personally, I think it is a literary trick (like the ‘poverty porn’ genre) to justify the promotion of dodgy material to a certain class for titilation, so I’d do a lot more than sack such an author.

    • Sphere [he/him, they/them]@hexbear.net
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      9 months ago

      If I’ve misunderstood the message, and others have too (it isn’t generally well liked, except in certain circles, usually called at least ‘controversial’), then we can be sure that anyone writing such material shouldn’t be a teacher, and certainly children shouldn’t be exposed to it

      Um, what? This logic could be applied to critical race theory about as easily as you’ve applied it here to Lolita. Way to prove that you really are a puritan.

    • SineNomineAnonymous@lemmy.ml
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      9 months ago

      it isn’t generally well liked, except in certain circles, usually called at least ‘controversial’)

      The only people who understand the book in that way are:

      people who the book is about

      people who haven’t read it but have read redditors talk about the book in the way those people would.

      The only thing I can tell about Lolita is that there is a whole lot of people out there who definitely haven’t read but talk about it as if they had.

      And if the writer was a teacher, I really wouldn’t care. Teachers write or say so much more fucked up stuff. Many are conservatives for instance. A whole lot.

      then we can be sure that anyone writing such material shouldn’t be a teacher,

      Sorry but what. You can’t be held responsible for people not understanding what you’ve written due to cultural tropes that have developed from random idiots who didn’t get it in the first place.

      I’m sorry, but understanding that Lolita is NOT pro-pedo is the easiest thing in the world. You can’t even say “subtext”. I genuinely can’t think how a semi-functional adult could possibly misunderstand the text in that way. I know it does happen, but it’s really hard to conceive. The whole thing is pretty clear about it. The fact that the protagonist is a horrible monster who shouldn’t be trusted is literally in the opening. In no uncertain terms.