Lolita, by Vladimir Nabokov.

[stellatetorija]

I disagree - I think making H.H. an erudite and sophisticated European does much more than make us sympathetic to him. It provides a startling contrast between mind and body (a classic dichotomy), his public perception and his personal truth. It shakes up our stereotype of what a pedophile is/looks like: we'd typically imagine a pedophile as a lower class, uneducated piece of scum. His sophistication is part of his charm, part of how he deceives both us as readers and other characters in the novel.