Lolita at Middle Age

By JAMES R. KINCAID

"Just look at the text, damn it! 'Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins.' See that? Not just 'fire of my loins,' which you respond to clearly enough; but also, which you don't see at all, 'light of my life'! See that?"

That is a beleaguered office mate I once had, trying hard to complicate the point of view of a student, a student who said he regarded the novel as "porn, pure porn, and I should know."

My colleague, maybe not displaying the calm and respectful manner we all