| The debut of the novel Lolita (Nabokov, 1955), with its parody, elaborate language, and controversial subject matter was met with misconceptions of its content as a pornographic portrait of pedophilia. This thesis looks beneath this minefield and closely examines the psychology inherent in the character study that is the novel. The study also engages in a hermeneutic methodology to explore the relationship between fiction, depth psychology, and child abuse laws. An artistic-creative methodology in the form of case notes written by the imaginary psychotherapists regarding their contact with the novel's main characters, Humbert Humbert and Dolores Haze, illustrates the necessity for therapeutic empathy for the victims as well as perpetrators in cases of sexual abuse. |
