Nabokov's Lolita - A World of Poetic Prose

One of the first things I'd advise a reader before starting this book is to get to know what the concept of an unreliable narrator is. If you've already read Lolita than you probably know, or at least should know that that's Humbert Humbert.

The greatest success of this novel is the psychological manipulation. Before Nabokov introduces Lolita to the story, he introduces Humbert. A disturbed European individual. The first thing we get to know about him is that his mother died when he was very young and that he lost his first love even before he was old enough to appreciate it. At this point, it's over. We already sympathize with the boy. Even when he tells abut going to parks and watching little girls, most of readers will think that they understand him. He lost his life and his bride, can't we cut him sum slack? The portrayal of Humbert's character does make us understand him, but it is difficult, and i'd also add, wrong, to sympathize. 

The manipulation continues, so much that by the end most of us will think that Humbert is actually the victim here, that he was manipulated by the little girl. One of the things I had to keep saying to myself while reading was this girl is only twelve, this girl is only twelve, in order to avoid falling into a trap that Humbert has laid out for us.

If look at Lolita's situation, what choice does the girl really have? She's just lost her mother, has no father, what prospects does she have? Actually, we know nothing of her. We have no idea what her fears are, little pleasures, hopes and dreams. The only thing we do know are the things Humbert says. And he is mentally unstable. Lolita's character is Humbert's portrait. Everything we know about her comes from Humbert. This is the first thing he tells us  

She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one sock. She was Lola in slacks. She was Dolly at school. She was Dolores on the dotted line. But in my arms she was always Lolita.

My favorite part of Lolita was the beautiful language. I think my heart starting pumping faster each time I came across one of the many beautiful sentences. For instance, look at the way Lolita starts

Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta; the tip or the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta.

In the words of Gabriel Garcia Marquez: It was like finding poetry dissolved into the soup of daily life. That is a great accomplishment. Nabokov is capable of creating poetry out of anything. And i really do mean everything. A sunset, an encounter, hope, hatred. 

Lolita is enjoyable on so many levels. Just for the plot, the language, the relationship between the reader and the writer, the subtlety of Nabokov's literary references (and the ones not so subtle). To be honest, I've always thought that Poe's Annabel Lee was romantic and beautiful, but Lolita put it in a bit more perspective. No matter how hard I try, I can't stop thinking about Poe as an inspiration for Humbert Humbert. Nabokov links existence with literature, thus explaining some of the simplest and most exquisite truths about life.

I have often noticed that we are inclined to endow our friends with the stability of type that literary characters acquire in the readers mind.

Some of his heroes are Edgar Allan Poe, Ronsard, Proust, Joyce and many others. With Lolita I have cried, I have laughed, gasped, hoped, dreamed. Truly a favorite.   

I will create a brand new God and thank him with piercing cries, if you give me that microscopic hope.

 -Vladimr Nabokov