Between the CoversAfter re-reading "Lolita", I asked my local bookseller if she'd ever read it.She replied firmly, “No…a…Between the CoversAfter re-reading "Lolita", I asked my local bookseller if she'd ever read it.She replied firmly, “No…and I’m not going to either. He’s a paedophile.”A bit taken aback, I enquired further, “Who? The author or the character?”Fortunately, she replied, “The character.”For me, this exchange showed how much “Lolita” can still sharply divide opinion, even within lovers of fiction.This wasn’t the conversation I had been hoping for.I had read “Lolita” in a couple of days, less time than my work commitments normally allow me, but I found it incredibly easy to read.Even though I was taking notes, even though I was conscious that Nabokov was playing games (even if I didn’t always know what game), even though there were unfamiliar words I should have looked up, I was constantly drawn towards the conclusion.I wanted to talk to someone about my experience straight away.My cheeks were still flushed, my nerve endings were still tingling, I had experienced the “spine thrill of delight”, I felt like I had just had sex with a book.Now, not being a smoker, all I needed was some post-coital conversation.And there was no one around to converse with.And the book wasn’t giving away any more of its secrets than it already had.Nor was it going to tell me I had been a Good Reader or that it had appreciated my attentiveness.It was back between the covers, challenging me to start again.Three Act Word PlayAt a superficial level, “Lolita” is a relatively straight-forward novel.Once you know that it concerns sexual relations between 37 year old Humbert Humbert and 12 year old Dolores “Lolita” Hayes, you just about know the plot.There’s a beginning, a middle and an end.A grooming, a consummation, an aftermath.Nabokov makes of his material a three act play.And he does so …