Speak, Memory

Chapter eight, section 3, paragraph 3

In this section of nabokovs autobiography, I see some direct reference to the idea of Nabokov "giving" elements of his personal experience to the characters in his novel writing. In this section he describes a cousin of his, and uses language similar to how he describes the "nymphettes" in his book "Lolita". A couple parts of the description were actually exact duplicates in language. When he describes his eleven year old cousin (a nymphettes age) as having "alice in wonderland hair" I noticed he used that exact description to describe an imaginary nymphette in his novel. He also speaks of the preteen cousins neck, he very often speaks of Lolita's neck. His close observation of his cousin in that scenario and how he took note on several visual details down to her hip movement, and the skin underneath her clothing portrays something very interesting to me.it seems to hint on this experience being one of his early dawnings of sexuality in his adolescence. Nabokov describes his cousin in how his young self saw her, showing in what way he viewed her, without explicitly telling, which Nabokov is very good at. When he describes the boy sitting on his other side, he does not dwell on him for long, and it becomes even more apparent that he is closely watching the girl, a subtlety that takes nabokovs point even further. This section made me wonder if his early adolescent perceptions on girls that were his age at the time (and using his amazing memory to reaaccess those experiences,)  gave him inspiration for a book that is about an adult that is attracted of girls of that age.

creative assignment # 2

Lolita-by Vladamir Nabokov-pg.218

Dolly, think. 

"Man? Oh, that man. Oh yes. Oh, I don't know. He wondered if I had a map. Lost his way, I guess."

We drove on. Humbert gripped the steering wheel, a vein in the side of his neck bulged and pulsed. 

My brave travel buddy inhaled, then managed to croak what sounded like that name he called me.

"Lo."

Clearer now.

"Lo?" the poor man's whisper then turned to a quiet squeal "Who is that man?"

I extended my legs across the dashboard. Relax.

"Hush, Father dearest, there is really no cause for alarm."

We drove on still. I felt my chest involuntarily swell with pride. Dearest. Yes, that's good.

I felt his gaze linger on my profile. I pursed my lips adorably.

More questions.

"Lo, this doesn't feel right...please, tell me the truth? Was he someone from our hometown?"

Staring at my 'daddums,' my eyes wide and innocent, but my mouth slack and mocking, I couldn't help myself. I had to revel for a moment on the sweat that glimmered on his temple. Snapping out of it, I said:

"Father darling, I would never lie to you...I sure hope he isn't a cop. What do you think?"

Our car swerved slightly and slowed down as soon as I uttered those words. 

Brilliant Humbert didn't want to look suspicious.

Truth is, Humbie-humbie is petrified. 

Cheery-cherry-cheeked Dolly-Lo, joyous.

"What do you mean, Lo? I didn't like how you spoke to each other...it was as if you knew each other. Please, tell me something to ease your old man's mind."

Baring my teeth. Don't get mad. Just breathe, Enjoy.

Yes, no problem, Dad.

"I'm only kidding, jeez! Hey, whaddaya say you relax, will ya? You're gonna get one of those panic attacks again."

Humbie-humfuck does his deep breaths. Yes, good, relax.

"Besides, I am parched. Need my big strong daddy to hurry to that rest stop so I can get a drink."

creative assignment

Perspective of Mona-pg.191-192. The Annotated Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

Lolita's father really was frightfully overbearing when it came to Dolly. She really was not kidding when she told me her daddems was a total fun-sucker. I thought it was cool that I was hanging out with her dad before she came home, thought I could maybe get into some swell conversation with books and all that. He isn't bad looking either, he wears these jackets that make him look like he should be in a movie, and he has a look that Ive never seen on a dad. This may sound funny but I got kinda jealous of the way he carried on about his "Lo." He loves her a lot, and I mean a lot! Lo is always carrying on about how much of a "positively aggravating creep" her daddems is, but I think his concern was kinda sweet. Any-who,  If I do say so myself I am remarkable mature for my age, or at least thats what all the older boys that like me say. But he didn't seem to wanna chat one bit, all he could do was ask funny questions about her life at school. He practically consulted me like I was a grown up, asking all about what I thought of "Lo" and tons of questions about what she did at the ball. In my natural charming way I tried to engage the guy in some good old book talk and he wasn't about to stray from his topic of choice. Dolly had told me that when it came to her dad he liked to talk to youths, especially smart girls like me, so I gave it a shot and he just looked at me suspiciously! The even weirder thing that happened was, after Mr. too-good-for-me Humbert shot down my desire for a stimulating conversation, Dolly came in through the door and just about glared at us! she practically told me that me and Hum would have some things in common, but when we came in she looked just as suspicious as her dad. What a strange place that house was.

The annotated Lolita # 7

1. Losing Lo. Part Two: Chapters 18-20.
2. Finding Lo. Part Two: Chapters 27-29.
3. Killing Quilty. Part Two: Chapters 33-end.

Losing Lo:  one thing that's struck me in this chapter was when Humbert had failed to memorize the car number of cue. The number he had written down was carefully rewritten by Lolita so as to lead him astray. This part of the story reminds me of earlier in the book when Humbert and Lolita are reading about kidnappings--police instruction emphasizes the importance of keeping record of the few things that could be tracked at that time, one of these things being license plates. That was a foreshadowing of this scene, and since nothing is coincidental with Humbert as the narrator (and Nabokov as the author) it seems this is a mechanism to get the reader to see humbert as a parent protecting his child from a kidnapping. This of course leads the reader to the remembering of the fact that he has kidnapped Lolita. This relates back to the theme of Humbert's constant depiction of other men as the rapists and violators of Lolita, when in fact nobody has violated or stolen her from her life more than he has.

Finding Lo: I find it interesting that in this particularly moving section of the book, Humbert's seems to begin to make his most honest confessions and realizations pertaining to what he's done to Lolita's childhood; in ways that both she and him are aware of. For example he imagines what she is thinking when she speaks of her rejecting Humbert and saying she would quicker return to cue. "He broke my heart. You merely broke my life." So it is peculiar how Lolita seems to sweep this in which they both know under the rug, reuniting with the man that "took her innocence" and not having something to say to him about it in confrontation. However it could be read that her cold disposition was her revenge as she knew it hurt Humbert. I say she sweeps it under the rug not just because of her not seeming angry but she also said "oh, don't cry, I'm sorry I cheated so much, but that's the way things are." Could it be she thinks they were lovers and she cheated, or is she just trying to hurt himin saying this? Since Humbert's lense as a narrator is unreliable it is difficult to tell.

Killing quilty: what struck me in this section was the comedic aspect to the murder. It is very theatrical, not surprisingly due to the work quilty does. it is typical of Humbert as the narrator to make this relevant to how he depicts the characters that he interacts with. Again, nothing seems to be coincidental in the world of nabokov. It's interesting to me how much more revealing Humbert is in his true foolishness in this part of the book. Or more so ,how his fraudulent poetic disposition is  made obvious to other characters in the Book,  quilty seems to mock him. I wonder why he chose to do this at the part of the book that was meant to depict him as a passionate hero if he was completely focused on ego. Is this another one of Humbert's self pitying thought processes, or perhaps masochistic ones?

The Annotated Lolita Post # 6

The whole chain of events right before murdering Quilty can be seen as a game. First there was the maze within the house to find Quilty, then there was the wrestling match, each character within a wrestling "uniform" that represents how Humbert sees them.  Then there is the reading of the poem that is the climax of the game, then the mad-chase/murder scene.

When Humbert observes Quilty's furniture at his point of entry into his home, he points out a library full of flowers (Nabokov's touch perhaps) and a polar bear skin rug. These seem to convey a sort of flashy luxury that I was surprised to see Humbert did not blatantly ridicule or criticize. He looks about the house for Quilty feeling crazed and insane, but not necessarily enraged. In a way, although Humbert goes to Quilty to murder him, his approach in a lot of ways is more emotional than angry. Once Humbert finally finds Quilty within the house, after an almost humorous conversation/wrestling match they finally settle down and Humbert reads him some poetry.

Quilty, even with a gun pointed at him, mocks Humbert as well as portrays the perspective that I feel society would see his poem in. It is almost like he is the non emotional rational voice commenting to show the insanity and emotion that Humbert is radiating. Even though he also likes young girls, it does not seem to consume his life like it does Humbert's, which is why he doesn't relate to Humbert's writing. Then again, he did have a gun pointed at him so his reaction might not mean much. This is a difficult scene to get to the bottom of. What I do know is that Quilty's somewhat understandable response to the poem is that: though there is pretty language, the notes of lust are clear, and his phrasing is crazed and repetitive.

 As a reader, at this point I was starting to actually feel sympathy for Humbert--the clumsy affair that lead up to the murder was as pathetic as it was disturbing. it's almost as if Humbert made Quilty out to be his more cruel and perverted double of himself, one with the double the confidence and wealth that he had, one that knew better than he did on how to function in society...also one that was able to sample the same desires that Humbert had without letting them ruin his life. Humbert in dark and serious attire, Quilty in a tacky robe with his hairy chest exposed. The way Humbert dramatizes and compares the two characters side by side, as well as once again painting himself to be the poetic and broody part of the equation which is how he likes to see himself, is one of the many things about this section that brings up the issue of the reliability of the narrator.

The Annotated Lolita Post # 5

1. Do you know where your children are? Lolita is up to something and Humbert doesn't know what she's up to. Make a catalog of the signs that she is doing something behind her stepfather's back. To win, you must find at least seven.

There are several signs Lolita is up to something up until she takes off with Cue.

1) Before or in the beginning of Humbert and Lolita's trip through the midwest, Lolita disappeared to use the telephone, claiming to be using the bathroom.

2)Prior and during their journey Lolita has a newfound interest in the map and stops made on their journey. On her first trip with Humbert she seemed to have little interest in these things. At first Humbert thinks it to be a sign of maturing, but whenever they arrive at the destinations she urges them to go to based on her phony curiosity or nostalgia, her interest feigns. She is baiting Humbert to take a certain route because she is up to something, but can not hide her boredom with the locations themselves, throwing off her sharade.

3)On a day that Lolita seemed to had bee looking forward to, she complained of feeling "out of sorts". She charmed Humbert with the desire to stay in bed with fresh fruits and magazines. She put on her most adorable act, and when he runs her errands for her he thinks fondly of Lolita and feels a sense of "well being." When he gets home she sees she has been out, her sandals were dirty with gravel and her lipstick had been smudged. This was the first time he got a real forbodeing sense that she was up to something.

4) Humbert had been feeling followed for a while on their journey, a man has been keeping a safe distance behind them but always seemed to be there. At a stop Humbert spies Lolita speaking to the man and senses the familiarity she has with him. When he comes back she claims that he was asking directions.

5)Lolita lies where her and another girl from Beardsley had gone, changing her story constantly as Humbert questions her. It is apparent that she hasnt been any of the places she said she was at and that she was definitely not with a Beardsley girl, or any girl at all.

6)When Humbert is finally at the point where he is about to confront the man that had been following them in a car a safe distance behind them, he gets out of the car leaving Lolita in the front seat. As he approaches the car, Lolita started the car that was parked, later claiming that she was saving the day as the car began to move by itself. On top of that, as he was approaching the persuer, he made a quick U-turn and took off. After Lolita lies to Humbert, she immerses herself in the map, again showing an example of a strange newfound interest for the route of their journey that doesn't seem to be consistent with her attitude when they arrive at their rest stop destinations.

7)Possibly the most calculating clue was the fake telephone call from Beardsley that tore Humbert away from Lolita giving her a chance to converse with her persuer. Everything after that point seems to unfold in front of Humbert as both Lolita and her persuer seem to gain confidence, while at the same time Humbert's health fades, making him more helpless to the situation.

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.