Style

For this week, I read until the end of part one and a little bit beyond in Lolita. A lot happened in this section; Charlotte, Lolita's mom, died and afterwards, Humbert diabolically manipulated Lolita into having sex with him while whisking her away from a camp and travelling to various inns to hide their affair. By exploiting Lolita's fears of being an orphan/being a ward of the state and preying on her disturbing affection for him, Humbert successfully keeps Lolita in his grasp and continues to rape her throughout the duration of their travels. So, clearly, it was a disturbing section to read.

What I hoped to focus on in this post is the style of Vladimir Nabokov's writing and how it influences our views of characters, the plot, and the purpose of the novel as a whole. It may be helpful to start at how the novel is organized as a whole. Lolita has first person narration (for the most part) and follows self described "Humbert Humbert" through his deviant sexual escapades and perverse experiences. He recounts his entire life, focusing mostly on his time with Lolita, as though he is telling a story to the readers.

Initially I thought that the novel could be seen as a diary or journal of sorts due to the first person narration and how the speaker, Humbert, usually addresses readers directly. However, he often, particularly in this section, references a jury. Therefore it can be concluded that this novel is supposed to be viewed as some argument to a jury to prove the innocence of Humbert for an unknown crime (although it can be reasonably assumed that it's either murder or rape).

Depending on what he's saying, Humbert will typically address readers and jury members while telling his story. He will say things like, "Frigid gentlewomen of the jury!", "Sensitive gentlewomen of the jury, I was not even her first lover", or "Gentlewomen of the jury! Bear with me! Allow me to take just a tiny bit of your precious time!" (pg 132, 135, 128). This addressing of supposed jury members throughout the novel makes it seem as though he is actually testifying in front of a jury, and the language that Nabokov uses makes it sound as though this is either a verbal encounter or a severely informal journal of sorts meant for a jury to find.

Humbert not only addresses a figurative jury, but sometimes he also just addresses "readers". When he is trying to figure out what to call Lolita's relation to him when he enters inns, he says, "What a comic, clumsy, wavering Prince Charming I was! How readers will laugh at me when I tell them the trouble I had with the wording of my telegram!" (pg 109). He not only addresses them in this manner, but often he tries to persuade the readers (or jury members) directly. When he's about to describe having sex with Lolita, he says, "I have to tread carefully. I have to speak in a whisper. Oh you, veteran crime reporter, you grave old usher, you once popular policeman...It would never do, would it, to have you fellows fall madly in love with my Lolita!" (pg 134). These types of correspondences with the readers are very common throughout the novel and show Humbert's persuasion and purpose.

This interaction with readers goes beyond just addressing them; sometimes he'll say things like "At this point I should explain..." and "I have no reason to dwell..." (pg 98,99). By having the speaker directly reference the reader and write as though he is actually verbally telling this story, real readers of the actual novel get the sense that they are being told a long story. However, if readers pay attention, they also get the understanding that Humbert is defending himself against a crime readers are initially ignorant to. This leads to the understanding that the speaker is actually trying to persuade the readers, and his recollection of events is heavily biased, and even more alarming considering his sociopathic tendencies.

The actual purpose of this novel from the Speaker's fictional perspective becomes even more obscure when Humbert is waiting to see Lolita at camp. In one entire chapter, all he says is "This daily headache in the opaque air of this tombal jail is disturbing, but I must persevere. Have written more than a hundred pages and not got anywhere yet. My calendar 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. Repeat till the page is full, printer (pg 109).

This complicates our understanding of what this writing actually is because he writes down "repeat until the page is full, printer". Initially I thought that he may have been writing this novel in jail, or perhaps he was actually giving a testimony to a grand jury. However, this line makes it seem as though he has access to a printer which undermines my initial thoughts. The purpose of the fictional text in this novel is still unclear, and hopefully will present itself farther in the novel.

This quote is also a prime example of how Nabokov uses the length of sentences and the way that a passage is written to further readers' understanding of characters, plot, or themes. In this case, we can clearly see Humbert's fickle grip on reality and how his desire to see and be with Lolita is so strong that it seems as though he is disoriented, dispassionate about writing in this (diary?), and unmotivated to continue it. We get this through his uncomplicated and simple words and sentences compared to the profound academic jargon in other sections of the novel. We also see this based on the fact that the sentences and the paragraph itself are much shorter than the sentences around it.

For example, when he actually sees Lolita, he states, "She was thinner and taller, and for a second it seemed to me her face was less pretty than the mental imprint I had cherished for more than a month: her cheeks looked hollowed and too much lentigo camouflaged her rosy rustic features; and that first impression (a very narrow human interval between two tiger heartbeats) carried the clear implication that all widower Humbert had to do, wanted to do, or would do, was to give this wan looking though sun-colored little orphan aux yeus battus (and even those plumbaceous umbrae under her eyes bore freckles) a sound education, a healthy and happy girlhood, a clean home, nice girl-friends of her age among whom (if the fates deigned to repay me) I might find, perhaps, a pretty little Magdlein for Herr Doktor Humbert alone" (pg 111).

Clearly, we can see how passionate and involved he is when writing about Lolita through the extended sentence that he uses which is longer than the entire paragraph devoted to his struggle in not seeing her. The sentences in the first quote are choppy, short, and simple in stark contrast to this lengthy, intuitive, and complex sentence about his reaction to Lolita. In this way, Nabokov clearly shows us tone, meaning, and characterization through his sentence and paragraph structure.

Another interesting part of Nabokov's style is the speaker's switching from first person narration to third person at various points in the novel. Often Humbert will say "I" and describe things through first person narration, but occasionally he will switch to calling himself "Humbert Humbert" or "Poor Humbert", etc. and describe himself as another person altogether. This switch of narration often occurs when he's describing something particularly abhorrent.

When Humbert describes how Charlotte found his diary where he expressed his love and infatuation with her daughter (Lolita), he states, "Whatever Humbert Humbert said, or attempted to say, is inessential." (pg 96). After describing how Charlotte reacts, he says, "Again, whatever H.H. murmured may be omitted, I think". He then switches back to first person when he says, "reader, I did..." only one sentence after. He also does this after Charlotte gets run over by a car by describing, "The widower, a man of exceptional self control, neither wept nor raved..." (pg 98). He continues describing what he did after she died completely in third person, showing how he almost removes himself from situations that are cause distress or shame.

At one point he even acknowledges this shift when he's describing how attractive he is and states, "Of course, such announcements made in the first person may sound ridiculous" (pg 104). This shift often appears to be when Humbert thinks of something he did or is reacting to as shameful, even though he doesn't admit that he thinks that when he's describing it. This shift in narration may hint at a bit of shame on Humbert's part for his actions and his unwillingness or inability to acknowledge them. We only get this sense of shame from Humbert through the sentence structure regarding these certain things, and often it's the only thing that may indicate that he felt any emotion at all towards the events that transpired.

Additionally, word choice is a very huge stylistic thing for Nabokov. Overall, the author employs one of the most prolific and impressive vocabularies I have ever read. Additionally, as mentioned before, the speaker will often use words before he says a name to describe what Humbert's attitude towards that person or himself is, for example, saying "Impatient Humbert!" (pg 118). He not only uses words to convey meaning in front of names, but he also uses them in many other situations.

Nabokov also has Humbert use certain words to show how sociopathic and dispassionate he is towards things that he should have a different reaction towards. For example, when he talks about Charlotte's death, he says, "Charlotte had just been eliminated" (pg 101). When describing his fear that Lolita would be afraid of him after Charlotte died, he says, "Lo...might...show some foolish distrust in me...and gone would be the magic prize at the very instant of triumph" (pg 102). He also calls Charlotte's death his "liberation" (pg 108). These specific words of describing Charlotte's death as a "triumph", "Liberation", and her being "eliminated" show how little he feels or cares at all for Charlotte and what happened to her, indicating his psychopathy.

Another example of when Nabokov uses word choice interestingly is when Humbert describes wanting to have sex with Lolita after learning about her summer, stating, "the sensualist in me (a great and insane monster) had no objection to some depravity in his prey" (pg 124). This gives an interesting window into how Humbert views himself and shows that he knows to some extent that his actions are wrong, or at least he's trying to persuade readers of that. These are just two examples of how Nabokov uses word choice, but this technique is extremely common and important throughout the novel.

Although there are many other stylistic elements one could analyze in Lolita, these devices/techniques were the most prominent and influential in my opinion. Nabokov also uses allusions, metaphors, and many other techniques in his writing to establish meaning. The sophisticated prose of this novel is honestly the best part about it, and what keeps me engaged and interested even as the novel digresses into even more disturbing content. If the novel was not well written, and the devices and techniques employed not completely remarkable, people would never read this novel about a twisted, depraved pervert who rapes a twelve year old.

Ultimately the reason that this novel was so successful and renowned was because of it's amazing writing, largely in part due to the devices Nabokov uses. I am conflicted in my feelings towards finishing the novel because on one hand I am eager to read more of the captivating writing style of Nabokov, but I am also hesitant to continue because of the awful and disturbing story that the novel follows. Hopefully the next few sections won't have as many disconcerting events or it may be difficult to continue.