『운전 배우기』와 『롤리타』: 소아성애자의 도덕적 성장

Abstract

This study aims to compare Paula Vogel’ play How I Learned to Drive and Vladimir Navokov’s novel Lolita. In an interview, Vogel said her play, How I Learned to Drive is the homage to Lolita. Therefore their works have correspondences such as adopting the pedophilia as a principle subject, but How I Learned to Drive has a woman narrator, Li’l Bit and Lolita has a man narrator, Humbert. The former is a victim in the sexual abuse, and the latter is a victimizer. In order to dramatize the characterization, two works show differences such as writing techniques, sequences of retrospection, readers’ response and the ending of works. By interpreting Lolita, Vogel as a female writer manages to render Li’l Bit independent and alive unlike Lolita. The adult males’ (Peck and Humbert) early love toward girls (Li’l Bit and Lolita) is tinged with pedophiliac tendency, but gradually, they achieve a moral growth of real love by repenting their vices and asking for the forgiveness from the bottom of their hearts. Peck destroys himself in drink and Humbert shoots Quilty who is considered his double self and shadow for being forgiven. Ironically, while Li’l Bit condones Peck’s vice, she finds her fault which is the ‘Implied Consent’. Like her saying, “I would say that we can receive great love from the people who harm us. My play dramatizes the gifts we receive from the people who hurt us”, she describes Li’l Bit gets psychologically hurt but she learns a defensive driving for her own life from Peck.