Vladimir Nabokov: Lolita

[Peder]

Pontalba,
Well, here's a reverse hint, not the one I was looking for, but similar, on p.272

"...the name that the astute reeader has guessed long ago. [Yeah sure!]
Waterproof! Why did a flash from Hourglass Lake cross my consciousness? I too had known it, without knowing it, all along....."

Still looking for the found eyeglasses.
Peder

 

[pontalba]

Peder I did look in the section where HH is "touring" beaches with Lo, rather unsuccessfully I might add. Not there.

 

[pontalba]

Peder! p.83. "I said I had forgotten my sunglasses in the car and would catch up with her."

This was just after Charlotte made her announcement that Lo would not be coming home from the camp, and would instead go directly to a good boarding school. She and Humbert were just going to the Lake.

So, in fact, no sunglasses were really lost.....?

 

[Peder]

Pontalba
Oh drat! I seem to have misplaced the eyeglasses and can't find the reference I was thinking of. Unless it is that 'waterproof' one on p. 272, which I found to allude 'way back to p.89, with Jean Farlow speaking,

"I almost put both of you into my lake," she said. "I even noticed something you overlooked. You [addressing Humbert] had your wrist watch on in, yes, sir, you had."
"Waterproof;" said Charlotte softly, making a fish mouth.

And then after a few more sentences "...an indecent story about his nephew, It appears ...." and Nabokov leaves us with one of his wonderful hanging sentences. And one of his vague clues.

I am afraid now that 'Hourglass,' as in lake, must have transformed into 'eyeglasses' in my recollection, and that an 'eyeglasses' allusion doesn't exist. Frumph! So much for eyewitness testimony! But I'm still convinced I saw it in another context. So it will have to go on the list to be discovered in the next rereading.
Very sorry for the wild goose chase, so far.

StillILearn,
But I did come across another present he gave her, this time for her thirteenth birthday. Still no party. And also two, count 'em, two ice cream fountain concoctions that she drained down. No weight worries there! Plus, I must say, I found allusions to many more amorus occasions than I remembered, usually with Lo giving him a hard time and accusing him about what he had done to her.

And, just as a stray thought, there is no doubt that the book is jam-packed with detail. If one were to count the number of individual detailed facts that VN put into the telling of the story, I imagine it would have to be an astronomical number! Astronomical anyway except for the two I was looking for. But probably astronomical also when compared with many another author. He must have used a lot of index cards -- and Vera have done a lot of typing!

And then there are two especially heartbreaking scenes which I came across anew. But they are for another post,.....after I find them again.

Peder

 

[StillILearn]

And then there are two especially heartbreaking scenes which I came across anew. But they are for another post,.....after I find them again.

Peder, I'm beginning to think you're as great a teaser as VN was.

 

[pontalba]

Peder! p.83. "I said I had forgotten my sunglasses in the car and would catch up with her."

This was just after Charlotte made her announcement that Lo would not be coming home from the camp, and would instead go directly to a good boarding school. She and Humbert were just going to the Lake.

So, in fact, no sunglasses were really lost.....?

Well you were at least right about the supposedly lost sunglasses. The above quote is right before the one you mention about the watch/hourglass bit.

stillILearn

 

[Peder]

Peder, I'm beginning to think you're as great a teaser as VN was.

StillILearn,
Well, more like a disorganized note taker, but it sounds like I better hurry up and find them.
Peder

 

[Peder]

Well you were at least right about the supposedly lost sunglasses. The above quote is right before the one you mention about the watch/hourglass bit.

stillILearn

Pontalba,
So maybe I'm only half crazy?
But I really did think there was an eyeglasses allusion between Humbert's "Allez-y, allez-y" recollection and the Annabelle scene where the same two people stumble across Humbert and Annabelle. But maybe that's the extent of the connection -- without eyeglasses.

Maybe the connection is that I need eyeglasses
But now, other matters,
Peder

 

[StillILearn]

I'm reading a detective novel at present, and you two are sounding like the worthiest of detectives to me.

 

[Peder]

Worse than criminal!

StillILearn, Pontalba,
Earlier, when we all were still trying to make up our minds about Lo, we mentioned her possible need for a father figure, and maybe also a yearning for a normal loving family life. We also spoke of Humbert having stolen her childhood. I had forgotten how explicitly Nabokov had shown those things in concrete episodes in the story.

p.157, during their tour,

"A hazy blue view beyond railings on a mountain pass, and the backs of a family enjoying it (with Lo in a hot, happy, intense, hopeful, hopeless whisper -- "Look the McCrytals, please let's go talk to them, please"..."please! I'll do anything you want, oh, please..."
And of course he wouldn't permit it.

p.163

"How charming it was to see her, a child herself, showing another child some of her few accomplishments, such as for example a special way of jumping rope....Presently she would hand the rope back to her little Spanish friend, and watch in her turn the repeated lesson, and brush away the hair from her brow, and fold her arms, and step on one toe with the other.....whereupon, flashing a smile to the shy dark haired page girl of my princess and thrusting my fatherly fingers deep into Lo's hair from behind, and then gently but firmly clasping them around the nape of her neck, I would lead my reluctant pet" away (for sex).

Those two scenes absolutely fill me with rage, that a supposed parent, but any human being, could so completely and crushingly interfere with a child's normal happiness and heart-felt desires. They are to me a violation of every idea of loving parenting and are worse than criminal in their attitude toward another person, even a child. Later on, Humbert claims to love Lolita. But I really have to say that he is going to have to do a lot of convincing before he can possibly erase my estimate of his reprehensible behavior here, where he actually, both literally and physically, takes a part of her childhood away from her and denyies her any contact with a normal family life when it was easily in his power to allow it. I have difficulty imagining a person so delierately unfeeling and cruel, and so little deserving of empathy right there. These to me are the emotional equivalent of the horror and hatefulness of physical rape, which he also practices. These scenes are psychological and emotional rape, or perhaps murder. And they are the living proof that
"He broke my heart.
You merely broke my life."

I am surprised that it took me a rereading to recall these scenes to mind they are so powerful and, one would think, unforgettable. Anyway they speak to the value of rereading, and provide a heavier burden of guilt for Humbert to carry into his supposed change of heart.

Peder

 

[pontalba]

Ah Hah!

Pontalba,
So maybe I'm only half crazy?
But I really did think there was an eyeglasses allusion between Humbert's "Allez-y, allez-y" recollection and the Annabelle scene where the same two people stumble across Humbert and Annabelle. But maybe that's the extent of the connection -- without eyeglasses.

Maybe the connection is that I need eyeglasses
But now, other matters,
Peder

OK Peder p.13 the scene on the beach ".....with somebody's lost pair of sunglasses for only witness."

flash forward to p.39 "The Meeting". "....(her eyes blinking over those stern dark spectacles---the little Herr Doktor who was to cure me of all my aches)....."

The Bookend Scenes.

the other scene I mentioned above is merely window dressing and subterfuge.

StillILearn How do you like the new Grafton? I have it in my stack.

 

[pontalba]

Now higher up on p.39, was the initial sighting of his "Riviera love peering at me over dark glasses."

We cross-posted, and I just today re-read the jump-ropeing scene.
Ditto, ditto, ditto!!

(for some reason the smilies won't work...consider me frowning)...

 

[Peder]

OK Peder p.13 the scene on the beach ".....with somebody's lost pair of sunglasses for only witness."

Pontalba

What a catch!

StillILearn

You see who the real detective here is!

Do you perhaps have a book in your pile there, "P is for Pontalba?"

Awe struck!
Peder

 

[pontalba]

Pontalba,
But I really did think there was an eyeglasses allusion between Humbert's "Allez-y, allez-y" recollection and the Annabelle scene where the same two people stumble across Humbert and Annabelle. But maybe that's the extent of the connection -- without eyeglasses.

Peder

Peder Howsomever..... you pointed me in the right direction with your above quoted post.

btw, "P" was for Peril!

 

[Peder]

Peder Howsomever..... you pointed me in the right direction with your above quoted post.

Pontalba,
I have to say I am very glad of that success that you found for one of my hazy recollections. That was a real accomplishment (of yours) for the day! And I'm overjoyed it wasn't wasted effort.

Today I think I'll resume my search for that elusive 'top layer' to his memoirs. But in my skimming through yesterday, I now have to say I don't remember anything that makes the search seem hopeful. And those two blood-curdling episodes that I came across yesterday certainly didn't show a shred of remorse as he (presumably) looked back retrospectively on what he had done. /shivers/ Probably find more horror stories instead.

But a trip to Borders, to see what their post-Holiday offerings look like, doesn't sound like a bad idea either. Actually a much better idea! I'm sure they'll still have coffee, for example, and who knows what else?!

So, ever optimistic,
With a crescent moon right outside the window,
We'll begin to see what the day holds,
CU all later,
Peder

 

[StillILearn]

A is for "Awesome", you two. (BTW, in the case of Grafton's last novel, I'm certain that she privately decided that the S was finally going to be for "Sex" -- a thing full of which her books usually are not.)

I haven't done my homework on this one, but Peder, while you're re-re-re-reading (a little Aretha Franklin there) I hope you will notice how many times and in how many ways Lo calls HH "Dad".

"Dad". "Dearest Dad", "Dad", etc.

She didn't want a lover, she wanted a father. That's what I think...

 

[pontalba]

Peder Borders! and he says he is mainly going for the coffee.....! crescent moon huh? /shivers/ thats before the sun actually rises, right? Happy Hunting!

StillILearn Sounds like Grafton will be migrating to the top of the pile again. (Oy) Although I suppose I'll finish the two I'm on now........maybe

 

[steffee]

I haven't done my homework on this one, but Peder, while you're re-re-re-reading (a little Aretha Franklin there) I hope you will notice how many times and in how many ways Lo calls HH "Dad".

"Dad". "Dearest Dad", "Dad", etc.

She didn't want a lover, she wanted a father. That's what I think...

She does call him "dad" an awful lot. It struck me particularly when he picks her up from school, just after Charlotte was killed, how often she called him "dad". How young she was...

That letter she sent, while at the school...
"Dear Mummy and Hummy..." She was a child, and I agree she did just want a father.

I can't believe how long this discussion is getting... someone said way back about you two (Peder and pontalba) being detectives, lol, too true. I love it!

 

[pontalba]

And those two blood-curdling episodes that I came across yesterday certainly didn't show a shred of remorse as he (presumably) looked back retrospectively on what he had done. /shivers/ Probably find more horror stories instead.

Yes, retrospectively, but he still was reporting past (regretted) incidents in a truthful manner. Remember the earlier quote I posted regarding his reporting on Charlotte? I feel that he was remorsful, and actually a newish thought has occured to me. You could look at this whole "Confession of a White Widowed Male" (p.3) as an exercise in self-flagellation.

 

[pontalba]

Hi Steffee!
That "Mummy and Hummy" really got to me too.

And StillILearn I totally agree, she wanted a father figure. And between his taking advantage of that, and stealing her childhood.........even with the remorse...........guilty! Even if someone is forgiven, it doesn't make them less liable for the punishment. Even HH said so himself at the end. He said he'd give himself I think it was 35 years for rape. And lets face it, he did a public service regarding Quilty!