re: Japanese literature

I guess the Japanese do an injustice to what happened at the end of Nabokov's novel every time they do a story involving a hebephiliac relationship that doesn't end in horrible tragedy for all concerned, right Mr. Thorpe? In all fairness, Japanese novels, plays, etc. often end with all the main characters dying. The Japanese enjoy a good tragedy far more than Americans who always insist on a happy ending, and of course a tragedy is most complete when the victims are essentially good and honorable people. In that sense, Lolita fits in better with the Japanese tradition than with the American tradition - though of course the American tradition of requiring a happy ending for good characters is something of an anomaly and may be part of what Nabokov was criticising in his novel. For an example one needs go no further than anything written by MISHIMA Yukio. I think virtually everything Mishima wrote ended with at least one and usually multiple deaths. Baldur