Subject
Does HH actually address Dolores as LOLITA?
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Date
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From: Mark Bennett <mab@straussandasher.com>
To answer Mr. Tapscott's question: HH does directly address Dolores
Haze
as "Lolita" on several occasions throughout the novel, usually when he
is
speaking archly or with great emotion. The following is an interesting
example: HH and DH are setting out from Beardsley on their final
cross-country roadtrip. They have just driven past the New Hotel and
Lolita laughs as they pass it (no doubt recalling her meetings there
with
CQ - when she should have been receiving keyboard instruction from "a
Miss
Emperor" - "Empress of the Ivories," perhaps? or the "Ivory
Empress?").
After a somewhat implausible encounter at a traffic light with Edusa
Gold
(Beardsley drama coach and sister of Electra, Beardsley tennis coach),
and
after DH's rather nifty parry of HH's subsequent inquiry concerning
DH's
performance in the Beardsley production of "The Enchanted Hunters," HH
assumes a lofty, quasi-paternal air and states:
"You are a funny creature, Lolita," I said --- or some such words.
"Naturally, I am overjoyed you gave up that absurd stage business. But
what is curious is that you dropped the whole thing only a week before
its
natural climax. Oh, Lolita, you should be careful of those surrenders
of
yours. I remember you gave up Ramsdale for camp, and camp for a
joyride,
and I could list other abrupt changes in your disposition. You must be
careful. There are things that should never be given up. You must
persevere. You should try to be a little nicer to me, Lolita. You
should
also watch your diet . . . ." (Lolita, p. 209.)
Now it was certainly sound counsel to advise Lolita to be careful of
her
surrenders, but, as is usually the case, HH gets the specifics wrong.
Lolita did not voluntarily acquiesce to either of the "abrupt changes
in
[her] disposition" that HH offers as examples of her fickle nature: Lo
was furious with - and furiously resisted - Charlotte's scheme to pack
her
off to Camp Q so that the poor, doomed, lovestruck woman could have
handsome Hum all to herself; and when Lo was abruptly summoned from
Camp Q
by HH she had no idea that she was embarking on a 12 month, 27,000 mile
joyride, which even HH conceded Lo only went along with because "she
had
absolutely nowhere else to go." Rather, the willful surrenders that
Lolita should have carefully avoided were to HH and CQ and their
depraved
nympholeptic desires - the second of which Lolita amusedly reflects
upon
as HH delivers his grotesque lecture. So while HH continues to sketch
the
bars of his cage, the reader, Lo, and VN share a joke at his expense.
Such is only one of the many joys of reading "Lolita."
Also, during HH's final conversation with Lo, when he pleads with her
to
leave her husband and come away with him, he addresses her as "Lolita."
Lolita wisely declines this desperate, demented request, and I wonder
if
HH realizes that, in rejecting him and remaining with her dear, dim,
deaf
Dick, Lolita finally understands his earlier advice, and agrees with HH
that "There are things that should never be given up"?
To answer Mr. Tapscott's question: HH does directly address Dolores
Haze
as "Lolita" on several occasions throughout the novel, usually when he
is
speaking archly or with great emotion. The following is an interesting
example: HH and DH are setting out from Beardsley on their final
cross-country roadtrip. They have just driven past the New Hotel and
Lolita laughs as they pass it (no doubt recalling her meetings there
with
CQ - when she should have been receiving keyboard instruction from "a
Miss
Emperor" - "Empress of the Ivories," perhaps? or the "Ivory
Empress?").
After a somewhat implausible encounter at a traffic light with Edusa
Gold
(Beardsley drama coach and sister of Electra, Beardsley tennis coach),
and
after DH's rather nifty parry of HH's subsequent inquiry concerning
DH's
performance in the Beardsley production of "The Enchanted Hunters," HH
assumes a lofty, quasi-paternal air and states:
"You are a funny creature, Lolita," I said --- or some such words.
"Naturally, I am overjoyed you gave up that absurd stage business. But
what is curious is that you dropped the whole thing only a week before
its
natural climax. Oh, Lolita, you should be careful of those surrenders
of
yours. I remember you gave up Ramsdale for camp, and camp for a
joyride,
and I could list other abrupt changes in your disposition. You must be
careful. There are things that should never be given up. You must
persevere. You should try to be a little nicer to me, Lolita. You
should
also watch your diet . . . ." (Lolita, p. 209.)
Now it was certainly sound counsel to advise Lolita to be careful of
her
surrenders, but, as is usually the case, HH gets the specifics wrong.
Lolita did not voluntarily acquiesce to either of the "abrupt changes
in
[her] disposition" that HH offers as examples of her fickle nature: Lo
was furious with - and furiously resisted - Charlotte's scheme to pack
her
off to Camp Q so that the poor, doomed, lovestruck woman could have
handsome Hum all to herself; and when Lo was abruptly summoned from
Camp Q
by HH she had no idea that she was embarking on a 12 month, 27,000 mile
joyride, which even HH conceded Lo only went along with because "she
had
absolutely nowhere else to go." Rather, the willful surrenders that
Lolita should have carefully avoided were to HH and CQ and their
depraved
nympholeptic desires - the second of which Lolita amusedly reflects
upon
as HH delivers his grotesque lecture. So while HH continues to sketch
the
bars of his cage, the reader, Lo, and VN share a joke at his expense.
Such is only one of the many joys of reading "Lolita."
Also, during HH's final conversation with Lo, when he pleads with her
to
leave her husband and come away with him, he addresses her as "Lolita."
Lolita wisely declines this desperate, demented request, and I wonder
if
HH realizes that, in rejecting him and remaining with her dear, dim,
deaf
Dick, Lolita finally understands his earlier advice, and agrees with HH
that "There are things that should never be given up"?