Humbert Humbert is a middle-aged British novelist who is both appalled by and attracted to the vulgarity of American culture. When he comes to stay at the boarding house run by Charlotte Haze, he soon becomes obsessed with Lolita, the woman's teenaged daughter.

全书收录了刘小枫的8篇随笔。 作为一个学者，刘小枫的每一部著作似乎总能在学界引起重大反响。刘小枫在这本书中用清新流畅的文笔解读了一批现代作家的经典之作，并通过复叙事使一个个沉淀在我们生活中习以为常的伦理问题真正成了问题。毕希纳、昆德拉、卡夫卡、基斯洛夫斯基这些卓越的叙事思想家的叙事在刘小枫的喃喃复叙事中重新又鲜活了起来，呈现着它们敞开着的意义。