"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.
This contains two possible foci (plural of focuses, like loci). One is synesthesia: a funny thing about that is that it makes Humbert's poetic point of view merely a psychological or neurological quirk. So, it's not as deep as he expected. Another, maybe better thing to hunt for, are those moments that contrast his STOPPED TIME (in prison) with the "magical time" of his memories. Now, that's good and rather deep. You would hunt for those moments, beginning with any references to time (in the story) and time (at the time of telling the story).
ReplyDelete