Le Culte du Moi

On October 6th, 2006, Le Culte du Moi put on our first ever marathon reading. We tackled Vladimir Nabokov's classic novel Lolita in the University Yard. We started at precisely 10:55 am and ended 11 hours and 29 minutes later at exactly 10:24 pm.

During the course of the reading, 7 people read from the book. We read from the 1997 50th anniversary edition by Vintage International, which is 309 pages long (not including the afterward).

The weather was fairly poor, especially in the morning. It was cold all day, in the low to mid 50's. It was also rainy, particularly until the mid-afternoon, ranging from drizzles to downpours. There were also occasional strong gusts of wind that threatened the welfare of our tiny tent. Nevertheless, Le Culte prevailed.

In addition to simply reading Lolita nonstop, we also had representatives on hand most of the day to meet passersby, hand out "lolita pops," which were lollipops attached to small flyers commemorating the occasion and giving info on our magazine, and also handing out some samples of past issues.

Below are pictures from the Marathon Reading:

Christina and Rachel giving thumbs up after setup is complete
Rachel and Chet tagteam through the early portions
The halfway mark plus a few pages
Keren and Rachel, reading and giving out "lolitapops"
George Washington stopped by the reading, too
Seth really getting into the reading's emotional moments
Rachel also feeling a little angry at something or someone
Keren cold and lollipop laden, but still smiling
Time for the lantern
Christina and the marathon reading camp at nightfall
The stonebird came also enjoyed the reading immensely
Rachel and Christina, reading and making new friends
Christina and Rachel, sneaking a peek at the good parts
Seth reading by the light of the lantern
An eager freshman enjoys the opportunity to read
There were few people listening there at the end
Rachael reading by light of the lantern
Nearing the end, looking over shoulders to check the page
Last line and the subsequent celebration

Finish line event poster
Guerilla advetising for the event