Subject
LOLITA, the novel
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Date
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From: Mary Eugenia Lewis <eugenia@utkux.utcc.utk.edu>
I have an idea in which you may be interested. I believe that LOLITA is
structured to be misread. The novel to me is about intellectual blindness,
which is the tendency to mythologize others and the world in general
either in the context of the self or of theories. Thus, Humbert creates a
mythological construct which he imposes upon Lolita. Previous critics have
argued that Humbert's construct of the nymphet is beautiful and perhaps it
is. I would argue, however, that it is a false beauty, a beauty which
blinds Humbert to the person of Lolita.
There is tendency in some areas of Nabokov criticism to read the
novel as a game in which the book is the construct of Humbert who lies
throughout and most particularly at the end. Yet, I believe that this is
the exact trap into which the reader is meant to fall; for to me to read
Humbert's last encounter with Lolita as anything but the truth is to be
deceived in a most Nabokovian manner.
Humbert's last encounter with Lolita is the first time in which he
sees her plainly for what she is. The myth is gone; the truth remains.
Thus, when Humbert says that he loves her, it is for the first time the
truth; for he sees her for what she is and without deception. The critical
reader, however, is meant to read this passage as deceptive. The critic is
in fact deceived into believing that she is being deceived. This is
because for Nabokov literary critics, like Humbert and like the
psychologists whom he so gaily misleads, are intellectually blind.
Critics think in terms of paradigms and theories and believe that
through such mental constructs they are able to discern what a text is and
is not. However, such theories correspond to and describe texts no more
than the theories of the psychologists describe Humbert or the construct
of the nymphet describes Lolita. They are smiling Cheshire cats upon a
blackboard, and they blind the reader to the reality of the novel.
Thus, LOLITA, particularly in the second part, is constructed as
a fun house for critics. A narrator who lies, allusions, deceptions, word
play, riddles, foreign languages, plays, discrepancies in dates, anagrams
etc. are all very specific triggers designed to activate the various
paradigms in which critics are trained to think and which will lead them
to misread Humbert's last encounter with Lolita and the book as whole.
Lolita is ultimately about varying levels of intellectual
blindness and how intellectually blind people can recognize such blindness
in others but almost never in themselves. Thus, Humbert can see that the
psychologists are blind but not the blindness in himself. However, the
ultimate level of blindness is not Humbert's but the reader's; for while
the critical reader may recognize the psychologists' blindness and
Humbert's blindness, she remains blind to her own blindness. Lolita is a
game. In order to win, however, one must recognize not that one is being
deceived but that one is being deceived about being deceived.
I have an idea in which you may be interested. I believe that LOLITA is
structured to be misread. The novel to me is about intellectual blindness,
which is the tendency to mythologize others and the world in general
either in the context of the self or of theories. Thus, Humbert creates a
mythological construct which he imposes upon Lolita. Previous critics have
argued that Humbert's construct of the nymphet is beautiful and perhaps it
is. I would argue, however, that it is a false beauty, a beauty which
blinds Humbert to the person of Lolita.
There is tendency in some areas of Nabokov criticism to read the
novel as a game in which the book is the construct of Humbert who lies
throughout and most particularly at the end. Yet, I believe that this is
the exact trap into which the reader is meant to fall; for to me to read
Humbert's last encounter with Lolita as anything but the truth is to be
deceived in a most Nabokovian manner.
Humbert's last encounter with Lolita is the first time in which he
sees her plainly for what she is. The myth is gone; the truth remains.
Thus, when Humbert says that he loves her, it is for the first time the
truth; for he sees her for what she is and without deception. The critical
reader, however, is meant to read this passage as deceptive. The critic is
in fact deceived into believing that she is being deceived. This is
because for Nabokov literary critics, like Humbert and like the
psychologists whom he so gaily misleads, are intellectually blind.
Critics think in terms of paradigms and theories and believe that
through such mental constructs they are able to discern what a text is and
is not. However, such theories correspond to and describe texts no more
than the theories of the psychologists describe Humbert or the construct
of the nymphet describes Lolita. They are smiling Cheshire cats upon a
blackboard, and they blind the reader to the reality of the novel.
Thus, LOLITA, particularly in the second part, is constructed as
a fun house for critics. A narrator who lies, allusions, deceptions, word
play, riddles, foreign languages, plays, discrepancies in dates, anagrams
etc. are all very specific triggers designed to activate the various
paradigms in which critics are trained to think and which will lead them
to misread Humbert's last encounter with Lolita and the book as whole.
Lolita is ultimately about varying levels of intellectual
blindness and how intellectually blind people can recognize such blindness
in others but almost never in themselves. Thus, Humbert can see that the
psychologists are blind but not the blindness in himself. However, the
ultimate level of blindness is not Humbert's but the reader's; for while
the critical reader may recognize the psychologists' blindness and
Humbert's blindness, she remains blind to her own blindness. Lolita is a
game. In order to win, however, one must recognize not that one is being
deceived but that one is being deceived about being deceived.