*SHOCK GASP*

[cleolinda]

Attn: peoples of the internet: Twilight just got creepier. Yes, somehow. tiljaunique has shown up with some trufax that will change EVERYTHING YOU THOUGHT YOU KNEW ABOUT BREAKING DAWN. Well, no--actually, it won't, because we all know it's hilarrible, and that's not going anywhere. BUT:

Comments

[incogra]

WHAT.

I just. It doesn't. Huh? How. WHY.

I've decided I'm just going to choose to believe that Smeyer is an evil genius who set out to mess with everyone. Because otherwise, you know, brain leakage and rage blackouts, etc.

[cleolinda]

Have you heard about the Quil/Claire thing? You know, how it's Clare Quilty who's the "bad" pedophile who goes after Lolita in Lolita?

If that doesn't break you, I don't know what will. Seriously, I can't even explain that. Can it possibly be a coincidence? But if it was on purpose, and Quil/Claire is supposed to be a good thing--I don't even know. Evil genius starts to look more likely.

[incogra]

No, I haven't! What in the what, now?

[cleolinda]

Well, basically what I just said. Lolita used to be one of my favorite books, so I can't believe I didn't catch it on my own, but someone pointed out: Humbert is your first-person narrator, and he's telling you about his affair with a 15-year-old "nymphet" (I'm not sure, but Nabokov may have actually coined the word). Meantime, there's a super-sketchy playwright named Clare Quilty in the background who follows them around once Humbert takes Lolita with him on the run, and eventually Lolita runs away... because Humbert is posing as her father and she's tired of him acting like one. And she runs away to Quilty (who it turns out she has also gotten up to shenanigans with). The point of the book is that all of this is completely fucked up, but Humbert is sympathetic in a sick way (partly because he knows what he's doing is wrong, whereas Quilty is just pretty much evil). If there is such a thing, Humbert is the "good" pedophile and Quilty is the "bad" one

[incogra]

Ohhh, I gotcha. I am, um, the worst former English major ever--I've never read Lolita. I've never read the Twilight books either--I tried once, but only got about 10 pages in (COMMA ERRORS RARRR)--so all my knowledge of it has been gleaned from brave souls like yourself. I'm therefore a bit slow on the uptake.

That would be...kind of clever on Smeyer's part? But also still very much BAD TOUCH DO NOT WANT? Why does she do this to me? Why? (And yes, I totally take it personally.)

[cleolinda]

Oh, no--most people I talk to haven't actually read Lolita (or seen the movie(s), for that matter); they only know what a "Lolita" is. So that's why I went into that kind of detail, because I usually have to.

But... it would be so clever on her part that... it's like, the kind of writer who would drop that reference is not the same writer who would sincerely write Claire/Quil in the first place. I just cannot make the two things mesh.

[ikel89]

I see what you mean there, but it's just way too wicked for SM, I think. To quote some review that I found a link to on Mark's blog -

"Eventually the baby starts to get born and Bella is dying. The baby has telepathy, by the way, so everybody can read its thoughts while it's in the womb, and it turns out to have an essentially adult mind. Like Alia in Dune; I would accuse Stephenie Meyer of ripping this off, but anyone who thinks that Meyer might have read Frank Herbert has never been within spitting distance of Twilight."

[sirius20_81]

but anyone who thinks that Meyer might have read Frank Herbert has never been within spitting distance of Twilight

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

that is all.

[crypticidentity]

...

ded. done. No more.

I'm taking these Internets and going to bed, my WORD.

[defyingstars]

I cannot believe I never realized that on my own.
FAIL, SELF, FAIL!

(I wrote a 20page research paper on Lolita back in the day, so now I'm filled with shame for never realizing this.)

[sfulton229]

"Lolita used to be one of my favorite books, so I can't believe I didn't catch it on my own,"

Well, in your defense, "Lolita" is actually a well written classic of literature and Twilight is not so your brain probably couldn't contemplate any comparisons, in an effort to protect you.

[elsajeni]

She... she can't possibly be that cunning. Can she?

[cleolinda]

I can't believe she would be that self-aware. More than that, though, the implications of a conscious reference are just so against what actually happens.

[incogra]

I could definitely see her just wanting to reference a famous book and not thinking things through, though. I mean, she once said that Edward Cullen was better than Gilbert Blythe, didn't she? Her reading comprehension is clearly nonexistent questionable.

[tenalto2]

"...she once said that Edward Cullen was better than Gilbert Blythe..."

BLASPHEMY. That's... that's like saying the Antichrist is better than the real thing.

[idrach]

"What does Bella Swan do when true love leaves her? Not just true love, but Edward Cullen! None of those other heroines lost an Edward (Romeo was a hothead, Willoughby was a scoundrel, Tristan had loyalty issues, Heathcliff was pure evil, Rhett had a mean streak and cheated with hookers, and sweet Gilbert was much more of a Jacob than an Edward). So what happens when True Love in the form of Edward Cullen leaves Bella?"

From here: http://stepheniemeyer.com/nm_thestory.html

There's more stuff like that at the link (including a part about how during the writing of New Moon, Bella surprised Meyer with her "grit and dogged determination. She pushed through the agony, living for others-Charlie in this case-as has always been her style.") Yeah, I don't know.