Lo-Lee-Ta
here’s a short line of thought. i was browsing and i found this picture. it took about a fraction of a millisecond to think of lolita. to me, for that moment, she was lolita. the impression was almost instant. then it occurred to me, that this is probably the reason i never liked a lolita movie. not even kubrick’s, and that’s saying something. because the impression of what actually is lolita is so strong and instant that a picture makes a much more precise medium than the long arm of the cinema, and so the movie grows into something else. then i thought, nabokov wrote a truly formidable book, if it can explain to me a feeling so well, that afterwards by just looking to a pictures i instantly click. then i remember the first sentence in lolita. mind you, we are still in my same line of thought, and yes, i know the first sentence by heart. it goes like this: Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. it is one of the most poetic prose ever written. then i started wondering how can this be and this little trivia popped in my mind:
In 2006 two researchers – Janine Willis and Alexander Todorov – demonstrated that it only takes 1/10th of a second to form an impression of attractiveness, trustworthiness, competence and aggressiveness. Quite frighteningly, more time doesn’t make a difference — that 1/10th of a second’s impression merely becomes further cemented over the course of the first second.
And in fact, 100 ms may be being generous — the same year Bar et al. demonstrated that consistent first impressions were made after 39 ms. However,this later study showed an opportunity for us to breathe a sigh of relief: impressions are not consistent on intelligence: because unlike attractiveness, trustworthiness, competence and aggressiveness, there is no short-term affect on survival from intelligence.
well then, if this is true, then it means that it surely applies to first sentences of novels. more so, the great writers always knew this, the power of the 1/10th of a second, or the first few words of their newest book in their case. so all great novels must have great beginnings. they must. so i re-read the first pages of some of my favorite books, and the feeling that came over me was incredible. i will post a couple of these pages. take your time, re-read them. can you feel the lolita effect? knowing the whole book, in hindsight aren’t these the most appropriate beginnings.
i wonder how often after we write an email, a letter, a presentation, anything, at the end we return to the beginning and rewrite it to quantify exactly what came out in our project. because that’s how it should be done, not the other way around.
