Vladimir Nabokov: Lolita

[pontalba]

Steffee, and those not yet finished SPOILER ALERT!




OK

On the second to last page Humbert actually sentences himself. He says:

"For reasons that may appear more obvious than they really are, I am opposed to capital punishment; this attitude will be, I trust, shared by the sentencing judge. Had I come before myself, I would have given Humbert at least thirty-five years for rape, and dismissed the rest of the charges."

Well.....lets face it, he did a public service in getting rid of Quilty, and saved the taxpayers lots of money and time by doing so. 35 years would have been a life sentence for him, I believe he would have pined and wasted away in prison.

 

[SFG75]

I object!!!!, a few words your honor........

I rise your honor to object-if it may please the court, co-counsel for H. would like to present a few points.

First, H.H. is not the predatory monster he is made out to be. Thoughts are not crimes, actions are. What is the mindset of H.? He is a man who is unsure and doesn't act.

Despite my manly looks, I'm horribly timid.

-a page

Now he doesn't act, but that brazen little tart certainly pushes him from inaction to....well.......yeah.

Exhibit #1: Lo attacks H.H.

The magazine escaped to the floor like a flustered fowl. She twisted herself free, recoiled, and lay back in the right-hand corner of the davenport. Then, with perfect simplicity, the impudent child extended her legs across my lap.

Keep in mind that it isn't Humbert who pulls her over to him. Nooooooo, it's that brazen devil-child. To use a gun analogy, H.H. is a finely tuned gun with the bullets(i.e.-the inclination) to engage in inappropriate actions. It was Lo who tripped the triggers......repeatedly.

inspite of that young trollop throwing herself at him, he persevered.

I intended, with the most fervent force and foresight, to proect the purity of that twelve-year-old child.

Exhibit #2-the second attack on a deeply conflicted, and certifiably ill man-H.H. by that morally bankrupt Lo.

My heart expanded with such force that it almost blotted me out, I hitched up the pants of my pajamas, flung the door open: and simultaneously Lolita arrived, in her Sunday frock, stamping, panting, and then she was in my arms,

statements by the little vixen that show her morally debased nature.

I have been revoltingly unfaithful to you....

Well, you haven't kissed me yet have you?....

Exhibit #4-Her actions at camp with that dullard Charles.

I move that H.H. be declared guilty by reason of insanity, as brought on by a conniving, trigger-tripping-happy little aphrodite.

**Co-counsel leaves the room after reciting the hot and heavy lap-scene which has left him bewildered to say the least.**

 

[StillILearn]

Private message to SFG75: If I ever commit a crime (which I may do), will you please represent me in court?

 

[StillILearn]

Ahem! Okay. Let's get back on topic here.

 

[Gem]

Bravo SFG75, you called a 12 year old a vixen, tart and trollop and it didn't even make me bat an eyelid (nice going )

 

[SFG75]

Bravo SFG75, you called a 12 year old a vixen, tart and trollop and it didn't even make me bat an eyelid (nice going )

Oh come on, if the characterization is a fit, you must acquit.

 

[StillILearn]

I just watched the Jeremy Irons version again. It was so very well done!

I was going to go ahead and watch the James Mason one again while I was at it (just for comparison), but Mr StillI is beginning to look at me askance.

 

[Peder]

It looks like the conflagration is going quite nicely in here, and turning quite poetic
Is this going to be poetic justice?
Or will there be no rhyme or reason to this treason?
Humbert off? We must scoff!

Peder

 

[steffee]

Yes, the case of HH is proving to be very interesting! I can't wait to see (read!) further evidence against him and in his defence.

I have finished the book now (so don't worry about spoilers) and am completely undecided as to how I feel about either Lolita or HH, Nabokov definitely knows how to challenge your perceptions, eh...

I don't think any of the characters in the entire novel were particularly 'likeable', but who deserves the largest portion of blame?

 

[pontalba]

Peder
Is that a poet wot don't know it?

Steffee
Ay, now, theres the rub...

 

[Peder]

I don't think any of the characters in the entire novel were particularly 'likeable', but who deserves the largest portion of blame?

Steffee,
I never thought of it that way, but you are right. They are all not very likeable. That seems natural enough for the pornographer Quilty and for the pedophile Humbert. But I have never understood why Lolita had to be such a ditz. She could have been a fun-loving child without much changing the story it seems to me. She is when she is playing tennis or swimming, for example. But VN goes out of his way to make her empty-headed and superficial. Beats me

As for defense of Humbert, I think most of the facts in his 'favor' are already out for discussion. I would only mention, in addition, his 'fatherly' advice to her that you just finished reading on the last page. There, Nabokov seems to be deliberately trying to soften Humbert's image, and also pull at the reader's heart strings, with their 'farewell' tone. Or at least that is my reaction to his advice.

Connected with that farewell tone if it is there, did you (or any one) detect a hint of Sidney Carton's noble final words from The Tale of Two Cities, in the lines up above where pontalba pointed out that HH 'convicts himself? "Tis a far better thing I do ....?" I have remembered them after all these years.

In fact, does HH's fatherly advice remind anyone of Polonius's long speech of advice from Shakespeare's Hamlet?

So, here at the end of the book is Nabokov relying on inner echoes from two classics to help shape our reactions to Humbert?

And who gets the largest portion of the blame, you ask? That's a good way to phrase the question.

Questions, questions,
Peder

 

[Peder]

Peder
Is that a poet wot don't know it?

Steffee
Ay, now, theres the rub...

Pontalba
LOL No, it was just an irresistible urge! But it seems to be catching
Peder

 

[Peder]

Answer 1

Steffee,
I think Humbert deserves most of the blame.

Or do we absolve him of 'blame' because he is 'victim' of an obsession that he can't control, and just lock him away forever for public safety?

And I'm running hard from ground zero for when the bomb explodes.

Peder

 

[StillILearn]

My new avatar is intended to make you feel quilty.

 

[pontalba]

The What If? Game

What if...

...Charlotte had been a more attentive mother?
...Charlotte had not been so exceedingly selfish?
...Harold E. Haze had not died?
...Humbert's mother had not died?
...Annabel had not died?
...Humbert had not been able to check himself out of said sanatorium?
...Quilty had been put in Jail, where he richly deserved to be? (he'd been close to it at least once.)

I find I cannot aportion any blame [in the end] to Lolita herself. She was a victim in every way, and even though I started out not liking her at all for so many reasons, she was a survivor. Manipulative to the core, but thats what was needed, and she came thru with flying colors.

And oddly enough, not as much to Humbert the monster, Humbert the sad clown, as I would like to.........

 

[StillILearn]

Interesting point, pontalba, Nabokov didn't have to make everybody unlikeable, nor did he have to make everybody die. He didn't make careless mistakes either.

Hm. Hm. Hm.

 

[SFG75]

What a minute...what a minute here people. How many people of the male gender did Lo not have some sort of inappropriate relationship with? Don't get me wrong, H.H. is not a saint, but tell me how this little hot-to-trot girl/woman wasn't out on a mission.

 

[StillILearn]

What a minute...what a minute here people. How many people of the male gender did Lo not have some sort of inappropriate relationship with? Don't get me wrong, H.H. is not a saint, but tell me how this little hot-to-trot girl/woman wasn't out on a mission.

Um. San Francisco Gate, would you mind quoting your sources?

 

[pontalba]

Lolita was like a kid that has been told not to touch the hot stove. Reaching......reaching...........ouch!

Which is precisely why I give dear Charlotte so much of the blame. She did not set parameters for an obviously head strong curious child. CHILD. Either Charlotte had no clue, or didn't care. I think the latter---as she was so nasty about Lo,saying how spiteful Lo had been as a One Year Old Baby. She saw Lo as a barrier to being free herself.

Depriving Lolita of her freedom, meant more to Lolita than the rape. IMHO Sex was not something that Lolita was a stranger to, as you point out SFG. We have seen that Humbert was not her first, and she quite obviously lusted after dear Quilty. Boy, talk about jumping from the frying pan into the fire. At least HH didn't put (or try to) Lolita up for public display.

 

[Peder]

Pontalba,
Very good points, with a lot of food for thought!

Depriving Lolita of her freedom, meant more to Lolita than the rape. IMHO

She did say just exactly that, but when I didn't yet appreciate the words fully, in two lines something like:

"Yes. He violated me.
You only destroyed my life"

The key to the novel, hidden in plain sight? (Pure Nabokov?)

Also, now that you bring it up, maybe her lack of interest in sex was one of the ways VN 'de-sexed' the book, and removed a leering quality it definitely would have had if she had been hot to trot. In which case, a very shrewd insightful decision. And a way to separate it from pornography.

Also:

At least HH didn't put (or try to) Lolita up for public display.

And neither did Nabokov. when you think about it. Is she Nabokov's version of an anti-heroine? Which was why he made her so dumb, so superficial, so always dirty and in need of a good scrubbing (virtuously alone), and using such slangy language? All of them being additional ways to prevent her becoming a sex object for the reader?

Or did he just decide to do a real number on teenagers of the day?

The more I read, and the more we discuss, the more the questions that come up!

Bravo, VN! Bravo forum!

Peder

P.S. And 'hot stove?' Perfect metaphor for her behavior IMO.