Friday, September 18, 2009

Lolita (Jo Hsu, Fiction Editor)

I'm going to break the rules (are there rules?) and post two quotes. It's an oldie, but a goodie. And honestly, I believe, it is the best opening in literary history (at least to the best of my knowledge)

"Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta.

She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one sock. She was Lola in slacks. She was Dolly at school. She was Dolores on the dotted line. But in my arms she was always Lolita.

- Vladimir Nabokov

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