Gehring, Melina. Vladimir Nabokovs Lolita als Rhizomlabyrinth. 2004

The essay explores the labyrinthine structure in Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita. Not only is Humbert Humbert imprisoned in the labyrinths of his life and writings, but the reader also wanders through a maze of clues, gradually falling victim to the unreliable narrator. At the core of the labyrinth, almost invisible and brought to light by the article, is a connection with Humbert Humbert's own name as well as with his enigmatic namesake in Reims Cathedral. Analogies are finally drawn to the classic labyrinth of the Theseus myth, Renaissance hedge mazes, and the concept of the multidimensional rhizome labyrinth, which is a pictorial construct that helps one to understand the multilayered complexity of the novel.