Dear Jansy,
It's funny, but I never noticed these whatchamacallums in relation to Humbert, but Humbert did himself use them in describing his wife, Charlotte. One of the highlights of Stanley Kubrick's film is when Charlotte, played by the incomparable (hmm) Shelley Winters, finds Humbert's 'journal' and reads his descriptions of her (there were a series, "the big momma" is the one that sticks in my mind).
What a performance.
Carolyn
I googled "appositive phrase" and it's not quite what we are talking about [ex.: "the cockroach, an insect ..." - I kid you not, google it and see]. Perhaps someone more grammatically knowledgeable can enlighten us.
Well, googling further, I found part of the answer: Appositive phrases are like the “stunt doubles” of English. They act as the same person, doing the job the original couldn’t. Take this sentence, for example: Jack, the barber, had cut Bobby’s hair. The noun is “Jack,” and the appositive phrase is “the barber.” By just using the word “Jack,” the writer doesn’t tell that Jack is a barber. So, because the original “actor,” couldn’t perform that scene, the “double” had to fill in.
But the "best answer" is:
Appositive phrase. Appositives give more information about their antecedent (what they refer to). There are two kinds of appositives: essential and non-essential. Essential appositives are, of course, essential to clarifying their antecedent (usually a noun). For example: Ivan the Terrible ruled Russia. "The Terrible" is the appositive tells you more about Ivan. It's essential because it tells you which Ivan it was; without it, you have no way of knowing. Non-essential appositives can be left out of the sentence without changing the meaning and are set off by commas.
From: Jansy <jansy@AETERN.US>
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Sent: Fri, March 15, 2013 11:58:30 AM
Subject: [NABOKV-L] Desultory query: Humbert Humbert's appositives
While I was going through "Lolita" ( searching for references to ombre, hombre, umber) my attention was called to the list of appositives used to qualify Humbert Humbert, like those adjectives that are appended to the names of heroes, knights, royalty (one third begin with the letter H). Their appearance in the text is not regular (it's to be found mainly in the first chapters and I didn't check to see if related to the diary he kept)
Does anyone know about any article related to this subject that could send us a reference or link?
Humbert, the Terrible and Humbert, the Small
Humbert, the Hoarse
Humbert, the Wounded Spider
Humbert, the Humble