Alie Ward (host)

He sexually assaults and abuses her.

It's horrifying.

But based on decades of cultural references and movie adaptations, you probably already knew that plot.

So when you see mentions in the news of a private plane named the Lolita Express, there's a little context.

What types of samples were they?

What types of notes do they have?

Oh, that's specific.

So Humbert writes a poem in the book that reads, Dolly, my folly, her eyes were verre and never closed when I kissed her.

Know an old perfume called Soleil Verre?

Are you from Paris, mister?

And Humbert describes this old perfume as the, quote, very delicate, very special French perfume of...

I latterly allowed her to use.

And it's suspected by readers of the book to have notes of anise and fennel and absinthe, hence the green.

And its name, Soleil Vert, it translates to green sun.

Now, this perfume, I looked, doesn't actually exist.

But a fascinating fact, I went down a rabbit hole on...

the 1966 Harry Harrison sci-fi novel about the threat of overpopulation.

It was called Make Room, Make Room.

It was adapted into the movie Soylent Green.

In the book, Soylent is a portmanteau of soy and lentil, but in France, the movie is titled Soleil Vert.