Subject
Alice in Lolita
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Dear Henry Hanada,
Charles Dodgson (who wrote pseudonymously as Lewis Carroll) certainly
influenced VN, beginning with VN's translation of Alice's Adventures in
Wonderland into Russian, still considered an amazing feat of literary
transubstantiation. VN often refers to the Alice books, especially in
Lolita. The reference to "Carroll Carroll" appears in the Annotated
Lolita which you own: Alfred Appel Jr., the editor, quotes VN as
tellling Appel that he had always thought of Dodgson as "Lewis Carroll
Carroll [. . .] because he was the first Humbert Humbert" (qtd. in
Appel, AnL 381-82n in my edition). See Appel's notes to chapter 29 for
a catalogue of most references to Dodgson in Lolita.
Susan Elizabeth Sweeney
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
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Charles Dodgson (who wrote pseudonymously as Lewis Carroll) certainly
influenced VN, beginning with VN's translation of Alice's Adventures in
Wonderland into Russian, still considered an amazing feat of literary
transubstantiation. VN often refers to the Alice books, especially in
Lolita. The reference to "Carroll Carroll" appears in the Annotated
Lolita which you own: Alfred Appel Jr., the editor, quotes VN as
tellling Appel that he had always thought of Dodgson as "Lewis Carroll
Carroll [. . .] because he was the first Humbert Humbert" (qtd. in
Appel, AnL 381-82n in my edition). See Appel's notes to chapter 29 for
a catalogue of most references to Dodgson in Lolita.
Susan Elizabeth Sweeney
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm