Sania Khan
asked
Kathryn Cope:
what you think is the cause of the sexual development of a pedophile in Jacob strane? sexual aberration? as in Lolita, Humberts premature sexual affair with his GF, who dies at an early age, and that becomes the reason for his interest in Lolita when he sees her. what is strane's trauma or the missing thing that resulted in him being a pedophile?
Kathryn Cope
That's a really interesting question. I think it's difficult to say exactly what shaped Strane because the author's primary interest is in his negative impact on Vanessa. I got the impression Russell didn't want readers wasting too much empathy on him as this is 'Lolita' from Lolita's perspective.
My feeling was that Strane's sexual predation was linked to his emotional inadequacy. There was something lacking in him that made relationships with women his own age unrewarding. He wanted to be worshipped and thought of as intellectually brilliant and was only likely to elicit this response in impressionable schoolgirls.
My feeling was that Strane's sexual predation was linked to his emotional inadequacy. There was something lacking in him that made relationships with women his own age unrewarding. He wanted to be worshipped and thought of as intellectually brilliant and was only likely to elicit this response in impressionable schoolgirls.
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