I do not know whether to laugh & cheer, or yawn over the fuss about the Woolworths Lolita bed
Consolation for the judge who asked Who are the Beatles
And for me, who did not know who they were talking about when they said Heath Ledger had died
And for those who are surprised that Katie Melua has to explain who Mary Pickford was
What everybody knows changes with the generations
I do not see why anyone under the age of 50 should flinch at the name Lolita. Unless they have a degree in English literature or in film studies
When did Nabokov last figure in the best seller lists?
The Jeremy Irons film sank without trace. Only those old enough to remember James Mason & the heart-shaped sunglasses will automatically think of undesirable meanings in the name
The bed in question is hardly something you would see in a boudoir. It is workmanlike & incorporates a desk. So it is just the name which offends some
My copy of Chambers (1993 edition) gives Lolita as a diminutive of Dolores
Sorrows indeed for Woollies
Thomas Bowdler has shewn the truth of the old saw, that the nicest person has the nastiest ideas, & has omitted many phrases as containing indelicacies which we cannot see
Contemporary review of The Family Shakespeare
