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Re: Article: Hafid Bouazza on LOLITA in Hollands Diep: 2
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Hafid Bouazza [to Jansy]" There is a contradiction in HH's comment on Lolita being 'safely solipsized' and his mention of her 'innocence' as a child, which he claims to want to protect. Also there is ambiguity in the terms 'safely solipsized'... whether Nabokov was being merciful towards HH by having him die of coronary thrombosis, so shortly before his trial...- although I think Nabokov choose the best dramatic and artistic solution - after all, the ladies and gentlemen of the jury are we, the readers, and we are left with the moral dilemma. This is art, not Hollywood (witness Adrian Lynne who fell in Nabokov's trap in his movie of the book, in which takes the whole Freudian vaseline - notice the horrible use of filters in the flashback-sequence )."
JM:
Dear Hafid and List,
It's a pity that you like many others, return to Nabokov's Freud without letting the theme (psychoanalysis, unconscious) breathe and grow. Is it fundamental to refer to a "Freudian vaseline" to criticize Lyne? Since I cannot speak as literary critic or writer and, probably, even as a reader I'll be unable to avoid departing from a Freudian practice, you render me mute (perhaps that's the whole point?)
For me (a Freudian), HH's sentence, as regards Lolita having been "safely solipsized", is not ambiguous at all. It indicates that he hasn't touched her in an illicit way. His orgasm was achieved by his ghostly fantasizings while in contact with her indifferent, apple munching, totally clad body. Only later on did he defile her, that is, he ignored her "innocence as a child" by acting out his fantasies on her corporeal being. This situation is more clearly represented in his other novel, "The Enchanter."
I forgot to mention that, considering HH's project to expiate his guilt towards Lolita for as long as he lived, placing himself at the mercy of a jury (and facetiously incriminating himself more and more while arguing his case - and we must always remember that he was only charged for having murdered Quilty), he might have killed Quilty exactly because he needed to be judged as a criminal. In this case Nabokov, by killing HH from a coronary thrombosis before his earthly trial, has not been at all merciful (has he condemned unconverted HH directly to a Christian hell, or only to a void?), although your point about his employ of a dramatic and artistic solution is held. And yet I don't see why the readers are left with a moral dilemma.
The "safely solipsized" theme may be considered without a recourse to psychoanalysis when we read Rilke's arguments, after he worked over Maurice Maeterlink's ideas, and his poetic drama "The White Princess." Rilke was working on "words" that were unrelated to action and space, creating a suspended world in which "Zeit ist Raum" (hear "Zeit ist Traum"): words were "useless" in the ordinary world of human praxis. I know that Nabokov mentioned Maeterlinck in "Lolita." but I don't think he ever explicitly referenced Rainier M. Rilke, although the developments related to "Zeit is Raum" ("Time is Space") can be found in "Ada, or Ardor", Ch. Four, through Van's philosophical musings.
Best,
Jansy
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JM:
Dear Hafid and List,
It's a pity that you like many others, return to Nabokov's Freud without letting the theme (psychoanalysis, unconscious) breathe and grow. Is it fundamental to refer to a "Freudian vaseline" to criticize Lyne? Since I cannot speak as literary critic or writer and, probably, even as a reader I'll be unable to avoid departing from a Freudian practice, you render me mute (perhaps that's the whole point?)
For me (a Freudian), HH's sentence, as regards Lolita having been "safely solipsized", is not ambiguous at all. It indicates that he hasn't touched her in an illicit way. His orgasm was achieved by his ghostly fantasizings while in contact with her indifferent, apple munching, totally clad body. Only later on did he defile her, that is, he ignored her "innocence as a child" by acting out his fantasies on her corporeal being. This situation is more clearly represented in his other novel, "The Enchanter."
I forgot to mention that, considering HH's project to expiate his guilt towards Lolita for as long as he lived, placing himself at the mercy of a jury (and facetiously incriminating himself more and more while arguing his case - and we must always remember that he was only charged for having murdered Quilty), he might have killed Quilty exactly because he needed to be judged as a criminal. In this case Nabokov, by killing HH from a coronary thrombosis before his earthly trial, has not been at all merciful (has he condemned unconverted HH directly to a Christian hell, or only to a void?), although your point about his employ of a dramatic and artistic solution is held. And yet I don't see why the readers are left with a moral dilemma.
The "safely solipsized" theme may be considered without a recourse to psychoanalysis when we read Rilke's arguments, after he worked over Maurice Maeterlink's ideas, and his poetic drama "The White Princess." Rilke was working on "words" that were unrelated to action and space, creating a suspended world in which "Zeit ist Raum" (hear "Zeit ist Traum"): words were "useless" in the ordinary world of human praxis. I know that Nabokov mentioned Maeterlinck in "Lolita." but I don't think he ever explicitly referenced Rainier M. Rilke, although the developments related to "Zeit is Raum" ("Time is Space") can be found in "Ada, or Ardor", Ch. Four, through Van's philosophical musings.
Best,
Jansy
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Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
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