Nick Cave, Nabokov and the Legacy of Lolita

Abstract

This article locates in the prose and poetry of Nick Cave, the intersections with, and influences of Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita. Taking cues from previous studies of both Lolita and Cave’s artistic repertoire, the article illuminates some of the ways in which readers might read echoes of Nabokov into Cave’s work. The first chapter delves into literary archetypes before offering a reading of Cave’s work as a development of themes and characters in Lolita. The second chapter offers a guided tour across concepts related to the road novel. Taking account of Cave’s long and winding career, this article takes cues from music, pop culture, and literature to create a new map of the circumstances of Cave’s literary imagination in a post-Lolita society.