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Vladimir Nabokov: Lolita

StillILearn What great quotes! LOL! I love the Bette Davis one, but then I loved Bette Davis! What a gal that one was! I remember seeing her on the old Jack Paar Show, she was about the age I am now, and I thought she was a beautiful woman, with her black (I think, the tv was b/w), sort of wide V neck dress and gored skirt. She certainly had 'presence'.
 
There was always something about Shelley Winters I didn't care for, and now I think it was the "victim" bit I saw on screen. So, perhaps this is one time I am able to revise my "first impression" of someone. I was judging by the characters she played. The woman had lots of character as far as I am concerned. I haven't read the whole thing yet, :rolleyes: , but I read the part about Lolita, and the Elizabeth Taylor section, at least the part in London.

Shelly had "backbone", an expression Steffee reminded me of over in the Pnin thread.
 
Pontalba,
Now that you mention the name, how do you think Elizabeth Taylor herself would have fit as a Charlotte? Oh, if only we could wind the clocks as we wished. :(
Peder
 
Peder said:
Pontalba,
Now that you mention the name, how do you think Elizabeth Taylor herself would have fit as a Charlotte? Oh, if only we could wind the clocks as we wished. :(
Peder
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You know, that might not be as far fetched as you think. Taylor was gorgeous, but she could do crude and unattractive quite well I think. I haven't seen her in Virginia Woolfe (sp?), but have seen small bits. And Wow. She was a very underrated actress IMHO.

So, the long and short of it is this. I think she could have done quite well, but Shelley was so perfect, why tamper? ;)

I remember Taylor in Butterfield 8, oh I cried buckets. Lawrence Harvey played in it with her.
 
Pontalba,
Well, I'll tell you she could really do 'flaming anger,' from Virgina Woolf, and Humbert would not have survived her discovery of his diary! They wouldn't have needed the car to simplify the story. They could have just carried out his flame-charred corpse.
But over coffee I thought of this: How about little Liz around 12 as Lolita, and then, at the appropriate stage in her career, big Liz as Charlotte in a remake of the film? That would have been a movie first I bet! And maybe a money-maker both times. I don't think even Shirley Temple ever did that.
Why does Hollywood never call me on the phone. Here I sit waiting.
Peder

PS. Unfortunately Liz at 12 would have been too early for the book. :( Drat!
 
Why shucks! Isn't that why we have Time Machines? :D

I agree Liz could have done both roles. And yes, "flame-charred corpse" is all that would have been left of the late and unlamented Mr. Edgar Humbert Humbert. :eek:
 
Melmoth

I was reading down the list of 1000 books that one 'must' absolutely read before one dies (feh!), over in another thread, and came across the title Melmoth the Wanderer at #928. Melmoth was the name of Humbert's car and I don't recall its origin being given in Appel's notes to The Annotated Lolita. Who knows, maybe one day we might also find it there. But in any event we see how appropriately he named his car. :cool: Again who knows, but that may be the smallest granule of obscure allusion in the book.
Peder
 
Only you would have remembered the name of the car! Marvelous! And so appropriately named. What a memory. :D :cool:

I do vaguely remember that the name of HH's car was something I'd not heard of, but the name? It was gone with the wind.....(for me at least!).
 
pontalba said:
Only you would have remembered the name of the car! Marvelous! And so appropriately named. What a memory. :D :cool:

I do vaguely remember that the name of HH's car was something I'd not heard of, but the name? It was gone with the wind.....(for me at least!).
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Pontalba,
Even though I posted the reference I found, I think I'll still check a little further, meaning google search and Appel's notes. There may be some more direct reason for the car's name, but I don't remember any while reading through -- like it might actually be some kind of moth, right up VN's alley.
Peder
 
Peder said:
Pontalba,
Even though I posted the reference I found, I think I'll still check a little further, meaning google search and Appel's notes. There may be some more direct reason for the car's name, but I don't remember any while reading through -- like it might actually be some kind of moth, right up VN's alley.
Peder
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Take a look at this little goody...
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/01...f=pd_bbs_2/102-7665834-6598541?_encoding=UTF8

Nabokov certainly had an interestingly put together brain to come up with that for our wandering Humbert Humbert!
I still can't believe you caught that title Peder! :cool: :D :eek:
 
Melmoth

It has to be the car HH is referring to on p.307--this is after he has killed Quilty, and the "police chase" if you can call it a chase...
I was soon to be taken out of the car (Hi, Melmoth, thanks a lot old fellow)--
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Now the car has to be his reference, as earlier on, Nabokov uses the same structure in referring to Jean, Charlotte's friend p.104-105
"Perhaps, somewhere, someday, at a less miserable time, we may see each other again" (Jean, whatever, wherever you are, in minus time-space or plus soul-time, forgive me all this, parenthesis included).
Click to expand...
Jean was already dead heself at this point, having died of cancer at 33.

Now the structure I am referring to is the way Nabokov places a direct address to the person/object in parenthesis that is mentioned in just the previous sentence.
 
Peder said:
Pontalba,
Even though I posted the reference I found, I think I'll still check a little further, meaning google search and Appel's notes. There may be some more direct reason for the car's name, but I don't remember any while reading through -- like it might actually be some kind of moth, right up VN's alley.
Peder
Click to expand...

After I read your post, Peder, I googled Melmoth and came up with some references to Melmoth The Wanderer. I didn't follow up on it though. Keep us posted, will you? This shows us just one more good reason for rererereading. There can be no doubt that the word 'moth' did have to hold that little bit of extra appeal for VN.
 
StillILearn Did you read the link to the book, and the review of the book? WANDERER, condemned to wander. Humbert wandering all around the country, knowing he is double damned in his lust for Lolita.

If Google had anything else, I didn't see it. :confused:
 
This article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melmoth_the_Wanderer says that Appel's annotated version explains the reference. It does not. At least it doesn't in the notes. If it is mentioned in the introduction, I haven't seen it yet.

Yet more confusion. :confused:

I found the mention in Appel's intro...p.lviii in the footnote. But it doesn't address the wandering bit as far as I can tell. It mostly speaks of "direct address" being an important part of the narrative.
 
Reading that first para in the Amazon book description fits HH to a 'T': Wandering the earth (to hide his dirty little secret), tortured existence (knowing what he wants/does is wrong), looking for someone who will take on his contract (poor little Lolita);)

Thanks for the link Pontalba and to Peder for that tasty little morsel.
 
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