EDNote--
This fascinating thread leads in many different directions, none of
which currently has me thinking in conclusive terms. Fran Assa's post
below reminds me of the value of reconsidering Nabokov's source in
Havelock Ellis's work in its French edition, Etudes de Psychologie
Sexuelle, VI, (Paris, 1926), which Edmund Wilson sent him in June
1948--very close to the time when he was beginning serious work on Lolita.
See Dear Bunny, Dear Volodya p. 228 & 229n1.
~SB
Pedophilia per Wikipedia: "The Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 4th edition Text Revision
(DSM-IV-TR) outlines specific criteria for use in the diagnosis of this
disorder. These include the presence of sexually arousing fantasies,
behaviors or urges that involve some kind of sexual activity with a
prepubescent child (age 13 or younger, though onset of puberty may
vary) for six months or more, and that the subject has acted on these
urges or suffers from distress as a result of having these
feelings.
The criteria also indicate that the subject should be 16 or older and
that the child or children they fantasize about are at least five years
younger than them, though ongoing sexual relationships between a 12-13
year old and a late adolescent are advised to be excluded...."
VN
did his research. Looks like HH clearly has the clinical marks of a
standard pedophile. The definition allows him to feel distress, which,
I suppose, is inseparable from remorse.