Readers of Vladimir Nabokov's 'Lolita' are coaxed into empathising with a known pedophile; Slavic Literature expert, Professor Alexander Dolinin reveals how.
Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita has been marred with infamy since its initial publication in 1955 due to the novel's controversial subject matter – middle-aged Humbert Humbert's sexual obsession with his 12-year-old stepdaughter Dolores (Lolita) Haze.
Nabokov's style cleverly guides readers into empathising with, and perhaps even understanding, Humbert's lust for his nymphet by employing various levels of deception throughout the work. According to Alexander Dolinin, Professor of Slavic Languages and Literature, University of Wisconsin, there are three interconnected levels of deception and reader manipulation in Lolita:
Humbert Humbert as a character within the stated time-frame of Lolita's plot (1957 to 1952)
Humbert Humbert as the author of his memoir after his own alleged death and;
The God-like authors impersonated as John Ray, Jnr and Vivian Darkbloom.
"Newspaper references and quotes belong to the second and third levels," says Prof Dolinin. "As do similar allusions to contemporary movies, songs and AAA guide-books."
The presence of these levels, references to 'true crimes' (such as the Sally Horner case) and intertextual allusions suggest that readers of Lolita should not accept the novel's tale as a reliable re-telling of the events that took place in the lives of Humbert Humbert and Dolores Haze. Instead, readers should recognise that the account given by Humbert in Lolita is just one side of the story.
In 1959, novelist Robertson Davies failed to challenge Humbert's account and proposed that the theme of Lolita is "not the corruption of an innocent child by a cunning adult, but the exploitation of a weak adult by a corrupt child".
However, it is clear that Davies did not take into account the layers that Nabokov employed to produce a reading so heavily in favour of Humbert.
Deception by Humbert Humbert in Lolita
As Professor Dolinin states, Humbert Humbert as a first person author provides an unreliable narrative of the relationship between himself and Dolores Haze. Humbert is perhaps too close to the action and reads Lolita's actions as his own fantasies wish them to be. Therefore, it is difficult for the reader to ever truly know whether Lolita seduced Humbert that first night at the Enchanted Hunter inn, or if Humbert took advantage of a little girl's innocent affection towards a fatherly figure.
Deception by Humbert Humbert as the Author of his Memoir
Throughout his memoir, Humbert regularly reminds the reader that he is writing 'under observation' and thus, one may assume that the narrator omits certain truths and toys with others. Indeed, in the final chapter Humbert discloses:
"At this or that twist of [my story] I feel my slippery self eluding me, gliding into deeper and darker waters than I care to probe. I have camouflaged what I could so as not to hurt people. And I have toyed with many pseudonyms for myself before I hit on a particularly apt one."
The reader may therefore deduce that certain pieces of contemporary culture and intertextual reference have been weaved into the 'true' story of Humbert and Lolita, thus interfering with the account.
John Ray Jr and Vivian Darkbloom Attempt to Fill the Gaps
The final layer of deception, though more than likely unintentional, is that of the fictional God-like author, John Ray, Jr, who supposedly edited Humbert Humbert's manuscript.
"I think that it is Humbert Humbert who gives a false interpretation of the story while the implied author gives the reader a number of important clues to build up a better interpretation," says Prof Dolinin.
However, as the recipient of a completed manuscript following the writer's death, John Ray, Jnr can only hope to fill the gaps correctly and will never know if the assumptions he makes, and subsequently passes to the reader, are correct.
In addition, the reader is again made aware that certain changes had been made to the original tale. In his foreword, John Ray, Jnr discloses that "Save for the correction of obvious solecisms and a careful suppression of a few tenacious details that despite 'H.H.' 's own efforts still subsisted in his text... this remarkable memoir is presented intact."
Vivian Darkbloom (an anagram for Vladimir Nabokov) appears to provide a similar service as biographer for Clare Quilty, a character with similar likings to Humbert.
It is clear that readers of Lolita are gently lulled into accepting Humbert Humbert's story and his passion for young Dolores Haze. Nabokov has created a web of manipulation from levels of deceipt and a poetic use of the English language, that draws readers in like flies.
Perhaps John Ray, Jnr put it best when he wrote "how magically [Humbert's] singing violin can conjure up a tenderesse, a compassion for Lolita that makes us entranced with the book while abhorring its author!".
