poshlust

"Poshlust, Nabokov explains, 'is not only the obviously trashy but mainly the falsely important, the falsely beautiful, the falsely clever, the falsely attractive.'"

I am reading a fascinating book called Reading Lolita in Tehran: A Memoir in Books. It is the account of an Iranian woman and a small group of female students who gather in her small apartment to unveil themselves and dive into the world of literature. I have only read a few chapters and I am entranced by these brave women and the lessons they are learning and the trials they face. The whole first section is based around the novels of Nabokov, especially Lolita. I have never read Lolita, or any Nabakov, but I am finding his themes and characters quite intriguing. As someone who has never experienced life under a totalitarian society, these stories seem so removed, yet so real. I can see the truth in the midst of his fiction. And it applies not only to totalitarian societies, but to all.

The above quote is perhaps the one that has stood out the most to me so far. When I look at myself, and at many other Americans, I can't help but see how much of our lives we have filled with "the falsely important, the falsely beautiful, the falsely clever, the falsely attractive." And it is a reality check.

"Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world-the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does-comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of the God lives forever." 1 John 2:15-17