For those maybe not so familiar with The Police, they were members of an English rock band from London. The band members were Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner (better known as “Sting”), Andy Summers, and Stewart Copeland. Sting was arguably the most well known member of the group, due to the fact that he was the lead vocalist and later gained much recognition as a solo artist. One of the most popular songs from the band was called Don’t Stand So Close to Me, which became a 1980 hit single. In this song, Sting cleverly attaches the line “Just like the old man in that book by Nabokov”, adding a reference to Vladimir Nabokov’s book Lolita
Vladimir Nabokov happened to be a real Russian author and later in his career he wrote prose in the English language. Nabokov’s book titled Lolita (1955) is his most famous, and this is “that book by Nabokov” which Sting famously alludes to. The novel made fourth place in the list of the Modern Library 100 Best Novels.
That classic book by Nabokov proved to be very controversial (and still is), due to the fact that the theme focuses on a middle-aged literature professor named Humbert Humbert, and he has an obsession with a 12-year-old girl, Dolores Haze. Humbert becomes sexually involved with her after he becomes her stepfather. Humbert’s personal name for her is Lolita.
Don’t Stand So Close to Me is a story of a schoolgirl fantasizing about a relationship with her youngish school teacher. Inside her there’s longing even though this girl is half his age, but he is very uncomfortable with the sensitive nature of the situation. “Strong words in the staff room, the accusations fly.”
And then — “he starts to shake and cough just like the old man in that book by Nabokov.”
The classic song was written by Sting, and interestingly enough before launching his illustrious career as a famous singer he was an English teacher, thus creating images in juxtaposition. This purportedly adds another element of surprise, causing an already taboo topic to verge on the teetering edge of risqué lyrics. This is actually a brilliant professional move by Sting, although some critics may have taken him too serious, since he has stated that this was not an association to his personal life.
Nabokov mirrored similar sentiment as he described his personal life in opposition — “the book that treated of a theme which was so distant, so remote, from my own emotional life that it gave me a special pleasure to use my combinational talent to make it real.”
Art can be provocative (maybe too much theses days) but sometimes there is an illusion of reality. This is a sign of a great artist, venturing into the realm of uncertainty. After all, life is uncertain and full of situations that taunt us.
The author Nabokov has written this very provocative book that some have labeled as just plain creepy, while others call him a wonderful writer. It is much to do with daring wordplay and the fascination with roles of dreamy fantasy. Obviously, Lolita
