The annotated Lolita post # 4

"This daily headache in the opaque air of this tombal jail is disturbing, but I must perservere. Have written more than a hundred pages and not got anywhere yet. My calender is getting confused. That must have been around August 15, 1947. Don't think I can go on. Heart, head--everything. Lolita, Lolita, Lolita, Lolita, Lolita, Lolita, Lolita, Lolita, Lolita, Lolita. Repeat till the page is full, printer."

In this quote I see elements of Nabokov's observation of Synesthesia, and if not, an observation on how Humbert seeks refuge in numbers and names, ritual compulsions surrounding his main obsession--Lolita. In this passage Humbert Humbert is in his jail cell,  and seems to be having the beginning of some kind of anxiety attack. He explains his feelings of claustrophobia, adding the sight sense being "opaque" to a the touch sense of feeling air in his jail cell, this is when I see the strongest example of synesthesia. I also see that he has an abnormally sharp memory for certain facts and symbols.The narrator notes that his calendar is getting "confused" personifying an object and adding to the neuroticism of the passage. Humber notes that the date "must have been around August 15, 1947" as if that is sounds anything like an estimate! His way of thinking allows him to remember exact dates perfectly. Furthermore, I notices that he writes the name "Lolita" ten times before stating that he repeats until the page is full. Because of his quirks that are so apparent in this passage, I can't see this to be a coincidence. Could it be ten times since august is the 10th month of the year? This makes me want to comb through the book to find any other  patterns throughout his obsessive journey that come in 10's. He explains that he has written "more than a hundred pages" and he hasn't gotten anywhere yet. This can definitely be said since he dwells for so long on each detail, name, symbol and number the plot moves much slower than it would otherwise. This passage shows he has a heightened awareness of his stationary position, leading him to this mania. He has a seemingly deluded perspective on time as he is spending much of his time obsessing over a memory of something that doesn't even exist anymore. Magical "Lolita" is no longer Lolita, not only is she passed away at this point but when she did she was no longer a nymphet. Humbert knows this, but is much more content in his mental mind games and imaginary recollection of memory than with reality. I believe he finds the jail cell "tombal" because it is making him very difficult for him to escape reality and daydream beyond what he writes in his notebook.

The annotated Lolita part # 3

It's apparent that Humbert finds the natural traits of a fully developed woman to be vulgar, he becomes disgusted by Valeria after the one thing that makes her romantically tolerable is recognized to be an illusion. He seems to also have some disdain for people that are uneducated or impoverished, or those who lacked grace. However, on the condition of little girls being compared to grown women, his feelings on what was vulgar and acceptable changed depending on which he was observing.

 "The bleached curl revealed its root, the down turned to prickles on a shaved shin, the mobile moist mouth...instead of a pale little gutter girl, Humbert Humbert had on his hands a large, puffy, short-legged, big breasted and practically brainless baba." (Pg.26)


 Humbert doesn't see these traits as vulgarity when it's coming from a young girl that he finds desirable. That's why Valeria's simpleness and naivety when she was performing more of the part of a young girl was actually something Humbert originally enjoyed, but when it became a reality that she was also a grown woman beyond being styled to look young, those same traits turned into being common and seen as dirty. From cute and innocent, she became brainless, and this happened at the same time when her facade revealed not to be something she could keep constant. All the things he finds endearing, when they turn out to be fake (even though he knew they were not real but decided to trick himself for his fantasy) they turn into something he is disgusted by. He knew her hair was bleached blonde, but when the root is revealed the fantasy dissolves, leaving him with only the judgment that she is a common woman that does things like bleach her hair. Although Humbert must've known that as a grown woman she grew coarser body hair, he was forced to come to terms with it when he felt the sharpness of it, that was when she went from a woman with attributes that reminded him of. Nymphet to one that actually needed to maintain her appearance (and sometimes failed to do so) another instance where this woman simply being of her age and being human destroyed his fantasy and therefore switched his whole perception of her. He thinks of a pale little gutter girl as a young girl who may have seemingly vulgar qualities but because he finds this attractive on a young girl it is infinitely different when a grown woman does the same things.

The Annotated Lolita Post # 2

"The only definite sexual events that  can remember as having occurred before my thirteenth birthday...and some interesting reactions on the part of my organism to certain photographs, pearl and umbra, with infinitely soft partings, in Pichon's sumptuous La Beaute Humaine that I had filched from under a mountain of marble-bound Graphics in the Hotel Library." The Annotated Lolita p.11

In this passage Humbert Humbert recalls his brief moments of sexual awakening before he meets his first love and nymphetic inspiration, Annabel. One of the moments he describes is when he sees this photograph that he describes. On first read, when trying to find if this was a real reference Nabokov was making, I found out that Le Beaute Humaine (translated means The Human Beauty) is not a real book or collection. I found this interesting because of all the real references Nabokov makes, it is hard to tell if he is purposefully being fictional, and wanted to create an imaginary image for the reader, or if it's a nudge to the reader that the actual character that he created may be lying, or if it's simply a trick to confuse a learned reader and deceive a more passive one. When he describes "Pearl and Umbra" those could possibly be a description of colors within the photograph or of two women, it is hard to tell. The first things that came to mind when he mentioned "soft partings" was either the partings of the brush strokes of beautiful women, or even just beautiful colors, or whether he means the partings of women's genitals or legs. When he says that he had "filched" them I believe he is trying to emphasize his youth and carefree attitude, the fact that he just snatched up something that brought him this sort of pleasure without any guilt whatsoever. I feel he is emphasizing this because in his mind Annabel represents what changed everything or him, what turned him to a happy, healthy sexually charged adolescent to being guilty about his desires, and what he manages to "steal" from young girls.

The Annotated Lolita post # 1

The difference in Nabokov's banal aspects to his writing in his first chapter of Lolita as opposed to a writer that, for instance, was consciously looking to make a character relatable, is that Nabokov is actually creating distance between the reader and the true madness of his first person character. As noted throughout the readings, and within our class discussions thus far, Nabokov's fascination with games leads him to play games with the reader. Also his noted interest in theatre has identified theatrical effects within his writing, as noted in the introduction. This could create problems with learning the identity of the characters, they seem to be trying on different "masks". I feel that he exercises both of these concepts in the  beginning. The first person protagonist goes on about his tortured love which may be seen as a banal approach to the subject, but in giving a bit of a "wink" to the reader (or audience) about his prose, the protagonist is obviously self consciously writing.

 In this way Humbert Humbert is responsible for the banality, not Nabokov, and it has been expressed that it is something he is doing on purpose. The reader sees that although the said "banality" is there in the first chapter, it is very purposely there, not to sincerely reach the audience baring the soul of the protagonist but to create allusion. In the introduction to this book, it quotes Nabokov in Speak, Memory, he compares the composition of a chess problem to that of writing in first person, particularly first person in an account of one's isolating and difficult memoir. It is also noted that The Enchanted wasn't published not because of the content, but because the third person narration made the groundwork to Lolita lack the depth that Lolita had. Nabokov states that the book also had  the nymphet without a "voice." He had done extensive research on who the main character's fantasy nymphet would be, (some very unconventional research) and it was important to him that she wasn;t simply a prop but an organic character made "from scratch".

 Obviously Nabokov is very concerned with the complexity and depth of his characters and wants them to embody a full personality so he can be distanced as an author, this is one of the ways they say he is a "puppeteer".  The originality of Lolita is said to be the game-like combination of deeply moving the reader and engaging them, maybe at times with seemingly banal content and beautiful prose, but also confusing them and adding distance when "verbal figurations" make things more confusing and the madness deepen of the character he creates, destroying the value of the banality but in a way also strengthening it. Could the banality be the "pawns" on his chess board? He introduces the protagonist as hopelessly in love, a brooder and a poet, a slave to his vices and obviously in a lot of trouble. This could be considered typical material for a dramatic novel but that is very purposeful.  As it has been discussed in class, as well as in the introduction to this book and other readings, Nabokov tirelessly pays attention to detail and has endless intention behind each thing he creates. This also has been noted in his personal character, his fantastic memory of his past students to his desire to have all of his interview answers written before being submitted. Nabokov is not impulsive with what he creates and is methodical about where he reveals and keeps his distance, much like the game player that he is said to be.

The Enchanter post # 2

In the book The Enchanter, Nabokov reveals one of the many things that makes him such a fabulous writer, which is his sophisticated take on conveying the emotions of the main character. Something I find really impressive is how, even though The Enchanter is written in third person, he can describe so vividly what the main character is experiencing...not through describing emotion and thought in a straightforward sense, but through the sounds and sights that he hears.

"He dared not kiss those angular nipples, those long toes with their yellowish nails. His eyes returned from everywhere else to converge on the same suedelike fissure, which seemed to come alive under his prismatic stare." pg.72

In this passage Nabokov states the will of the protagonist and what it is he looks at...no direct descriptions on how he is feeling, yet through descriptive language of what he "dare not" do, and how he sees the girl, is what makes it clear. It's the way he describes the girl that conveys the layers of his emotions. From this passage I see frustration, intense desire, obsession and finally, fear. The character is so afraid of the girl waking up, as well as being caught by an outside person. Yet he is also right in the heat of his fantasy; he is now seizing the opportunity to take advantage of the girl while she sleeps. He describes her body through textures, shapes and sizes. She has become so fetishized by him, that his desire has turned every aspect to her into an object within itself. It is written that the character's eyes "returned from everywhere", alluding to the fact that as he was looking "everywhere"  at her naked body, the way its written "returned" and "converged" hints that his eyes were darting everywhere and then meeting in one place. In my opinion this plays on the idea that his eye movements suggested he had multiple eyes that all met and rested at the "object" he is most obsessed with, which was her vagina. He seems to describe it like he would furniture "suedelike". His nerves also showed in the sense that as he was looking at her vagina, he said it seemed to come alive. The reader knows every slight movement made him afraid and it seems he was so paranoid as well as "enchanted" that he was imagining things.The way he described his stare as "prismatic" also shows his paranoia, hinting that his stare was dissonant and obvious, bright, sharp and loud, that it could also wake her even without his touching her.  These are a few of the many ways Nabokov communicates with his reader in this scene without making any third person observations, he let the actual present scene speak for itself.

The Enchanter post # 1

The Enchanter was a very interesting read. This is the more raw and uninhibited precursor book to Lolita. Lolita had the same controversial topic, but a slower plot escalation and richer character personality descriptions. The expansion to both of these concepts in Lolita created more depth beyond the choices that was made by the characters and the events that took place. Because of this difference, I was pleasantly surprised and impressed to find that Nabokov's belief on a good writer not getting too carried away with his stories, and also not trying to make the character relatable, held true even on a book as grating and shocking as this one. This truly was a fearless book to write, it seemed to focus much on the groundwork for Humbert's impulsive and not very dignified side, which was what made Lolita be described as pornographic.

Furthermore, in him writing this as a sort of groundwork for the ideas in Lolita, it shows how his skills as a writer in combination with his beliefs on writing make his work so special. This groundwork really shows how Humbert Humbert's tenderness for Lolita in the following book, (which was more emphasized and noted than the tenderness that this character has for his desired preteen girl), had nothing to do with the writer attempting to make a difficult subject more palatable for the reader, but it was purely an expansion, an enriching on a character that was multifaceted. To be more clear, this book as groundwork proves that none of Nabokov's writing is to concretely get an idea across through extra words or phrasing, nothing is there for the purpose of delivery to the reader. The Enchanter was a base in ideas and characters, Lolita added depth and richness, not purposeful palatability.

The tortured protagonist in The Enchanter seemed to be the "id" of Humbert in Lolita, (I smirk as I chose this concept because I know how much Nabokov would hate this terminology). Much of the writing was mainly based on his streams of perverse consciousness and frustration with the difficulties that arose in his situation in his desperate journey to possess the little girl of his dreams. I saw a lot of the writing  in The Enchanter as a scrambling of desire attempting to be put into a plan of action. His future with the girl was not carefully though out out as Humbert's Lolita's was, and he definitely did not think much of her well being. When imagining his life with her following her essential abduction, he thought only of ways to keep her ignorant and still a player in the game that was his fantasy.

...the edenic discoveries that awaited her, the way the amusing traits peculiar to bodies of different sex, seen at close range, would appear extraordinary yet natural and homey to her....she would be entertained only with storybook images (the pet giant, the fairy-tale forest, the sack with its treasure)....he was convinced that, as long as novelty still prevailed and she did not look around her, it would be easy..."p.54

This character imagines a life with her that only highlights the things that he finds attractive about engaging with a young girl. That is the protagonist playing the role of introducing her to all things sexual as she is still innocent, and keeping her this way and childlike as he doesn't expose her to much more than fictional characters in children's story books. He couldn't bare to think of her possibly taking things into her own hands and getting curious or rebellious, as he seemed too enveloped with desire to logically weigh out the possibilities.  Humbert also saw that she was to be kept fairly isolated, so as he wouldn't get caught or she wouldn't be "stolen" from him, and he was delusional as well as enchanted by Lolita, but he never questioned that she would try to rebel. He had multiple plans for every course of action that he took, he never questioned that Lolita may want to stray. He tried to enrich her life with education and material things in hopes she would be happy with an isolated life with him. He didn't seem as blind with desire as love for Lolita, he hoped that she would not ruin him but he thought that she might. This shows an idea of what sort of groundwork The Enchanter was and how it helped the developing of Lolita.