So, you believe that it is appropriate to force all high school age students to read this novel? Because that is the issue at hand.
Your citation of this being on the list of best novels of the 20th Century is laughablly unimpressive to me. Consider the list of most acclaimed visual artists of the 20th Century and I think you’ll get my point. Who prepares these lists and why is a question we should be asking.
If the Church should focus on figting abortion, as you suggest, what better way to do so than to restore a strong sense of morality in her young people? The novel “defines deviancy downward” by suggesting that pedophilia is more commonplace than previously thought and “normalizes” it to a certain degree.
Regardless of whatever literary prowess you believe it exhibits, the fact remains that it is damaging to the moral sense of young people; for that reason it should not be required reading for high school students.
Whether high schools teach it or not should up to them and Literature Depts. within them...not an external party with no background in the matter. How much do you want to bet that they’ve never actually read this work? The Random House’s Modern Library imprint did a list in the late 1990s and polled their Editorial Board (which was pretty impressive)...the occasion was the end of the century. And it doesn’t normalize Pedophilia at all. Have you read it? Does Romeo and Juliet normalize teen suicide? The popular image of the novel has nothing to do with its actual content.
Your citation of this being on the list of best novels of the 20th Century is laughablly unimpressive to me. Consider the list of most acclaimed visual artists of the 20th Century and I think you’ll get my point.
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Your point is pretty clear to me. You are not much of a fan of modern art. Which is no problem - it’s a subjective thing.
So why should your point (”the fact remains that it is damaging to the moral sense of young people”) be taken at face value? And why should Borges’ point be rejected out of hand?
How can you possibly demonstrate that reading Lolita damages ones’ moral sense? Is mere exposure to taboo topics enough?