"....the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate, to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta."
That is how "Humbert Humbert" the benevolent beast, the gentle giant and the protagonist of Vladimir Nabokov's highly recommended, extremely controversial, and on-the-edge- sensitive work of art, describes the name, the pet name of his love, the subject of his pedophile interests and inflicts.
I will begin with my experience of the book :
It is a slow read ( unless you have a very powerful vocabulary). A very slow read, tedious to have to go look up the meaning of every second word you read. Such is the elevated level of the language, that for the first 25 pages of the book, I was only finding meanings, and reading and re reading the pages to understand them. It may be a disadvantage only to a certain few who read it, for I believe many out there have achieved the literary level to supersede the dictionary hunts.
But, even as this mountainous task threatens to diminish your reading experience, it is upon the discovery of their true meaning, that you are truly exposed to the true beauty of the book, and you begin to appreciate this classic. Once you know what is written, every word starts touching your soul, every nerve of you body is on alert, reacting to the all the tender, ludicrous, absurd, lovely, funny, witty, hilarious comments, actions, reactions, moments, emotions that run through the mind and body of Humbert Humbert. He justifies his love with as much delicateness that one would expect of a "normal" romance, let's say, for lack of a better word.
Now for the Plot:
Our main man, the academic literate, psychologist Humbert Humbert, ( this rather unusual name is used for rather amusing purposes like when he describes as how saddened he is by the fact that his "dear Lolita prefers Hamburger over her old Humburger" - the kind of puns and innuendos and punches that fill the book ) , as evident by now, is a pedophile. He is writing under observation, in custody, for murder ( for who he murders, read the book. I won't give away more than I absolutely have to ) and is writing this journal , to a "jury" as a justification in the body of a memoir. ( This I observed by the use of such addresses as "oh gentlemen of the Jury", a style that alludes to Plato's - The Apology). It starts with him reminiscing of his days as a young boy at the French Riveira, his first love Annabel, who is then only a year his junior but dies only four months later. Shift to America, his lust for "nymphets" girls in the category of 9-14. Not every girl in this age group is not a nymphet, just one with a very distinctive charm and aura in her ladylike idiosyncrasies.
So he is mostly shown, in the early part of the book with hookers who resemble such little ones, while with the real nymphets - he only basks in their shadows enjoys them in his wild fantasies. Goes on to marry a very young girl, who has an affair with a Russian and goes away - has bouts of insanity, pays a couple of visits to what, in the modern day would be called a rehab centre, went to the arctic, in the meantime, had numerous platonically sexual encounters with woman his age, finally went to vacation with a friend, who sent him to some place called "Ramsdale" due to a fire in his own house, where he is lodging with widow Charlette Haze, who has a daughter called - wait-for-it - Dolores Haze a.k.a Lo a.k.a Carmine a.k.a Lolita.
Even while he is busy virtually seducing this enchantress of a child, who isn't all innocent as a child should be, her mother begins and ends up falling for her daughter's secret admirer. At the point where she confesses her love for him, comes the very first moment of contempt for the man who makes this creepy attraction to a little girl as beautiful and delightful as would probably appeal the likes of Darcy-Bennett or Romeo-Juliet.
So as to be able to stay close to Lolita, he marries her mother, becomes her step father only to turn this already awkward ( still, poetically depicted ) romance between a 50 something and a 10 something more awkward by adding an incestuous angle.
Charlotte and Humbert marry, and the arrangement seems to be going just fine, until Charlotte, the beloved wife discovers her wonderful husband's journals and diary entries ( which reveal his true self) and gets hysteric. As luck would have it for "Humbert the Horrible", she is killed in a car accident and no one, need ever know of his madness. Our dear old man decides, his step-daughter doesn't even need to know of her own mother's death, and sees this as a perfect opportunity to whisk her away. Which he does, on a road trip spanning one year ( For which, I don't know how HH had so much money ) before settling in Beardsley, a town in some part of USA where Lolita is made to attend a girls school.
By this time, this pair are already lovers. But after while, they leave this town for another road trip, in the course of which, an angle of mystery is introduced. Twists and turns later, Lolita runs away, HH finds another partner, though a very old one, ( she is 30 ) and after he murders a certain someone, concludes his work.
Now for the Style:
I have said the book is written in literature of the highest kind, in sinuous prose that has the lucidity and flow of poetry, the writing is witty and humorous, there is quite a bit of french thrown in, there is a lot of imagery and metaphor, there is a lot of mention of some or the other famous, well-known writer, artist or character of another literary work. Like a day spent on a hot day by the beach, it is a slow, languorous, leisurely, rich and to be savored kind of a read. Like a well-cooked dish, where you chew each morsel with patience, deliberation taking in the look, the texture, the smell, the feel of the food in your mouth, the flavor, you must enjoy this book. Few may relate to the theme, most may be touched and moved by his love for her. The romance, the mystery, the hush-hushness of their affair.. these moods get to you.
Characterization:
The book has many characters, small and big, real and virtual, present and non-present. Almost all of them, are negative. Not bad, just negative. Like unhappy, or unlucky, or plain or dull or unsatisfied, or drunk or depressed or if happy, only temporarily. The book risked having a very dreary and drag appeal throughout ( there are certainly some such parts ) but the humour and wit more than make up for what lacks in the innate foundation mood of the people who range from Russia to Ramsdale.
Humbert is eccentric, prides his looks and ways and English manners and appeals and academic intelligence . Lolita, is tragically comical and there are moments, though rare, where you pity her fate, that the beastly HH casts upon her. There are the Valeries, the Charlottes, the Ritas, ( HH's "lovers") who are rather plain and amusing when seen through the eyes of the writer's protagonist writer. There are teachers and colleagues and harlots and nymphets and everything and everyone comes together with interesting interplay.
Here there is something interesting- other characters are never given much importance, not enough anyway. However, as soon as the story starts to tilt too much towards our man and his girl, the author throws someone new, from past or present ( in a very How I met Your Mother Fashion, jumping from one reference to another ), and lifts things up. Since it is Humbert writing what is written it is only right that he talk of himself and his beloved, who he loved and cherished forever, (interestingly, beyond her nymphet years too.)
The book symbolizes originality on almost every plain. With heavy amounts of psychology, ( it tends to remind you of Freudian theories, though the author himself proclaims he didnt follow it) of child and adult, of emotions and moods like lust, love, depression, desperation, irritation, annoyance, idleness..with smaller ( although as some turn out to be, very important elements ) of porn, homosexuality thrown in, it defines what a classic should be. ( just for the record, a true everlasting piece of art just HAS to be rejected in its initial years ).
I read a Crest Giant edition, a mark of standardization that guarantees a good read, and I was not disappointed one bit. It is enriching and stirring and reminds you just how powerful words can be, how magical an effect they can have on you.
