Lolita, brilho da minha vida, fogo dos meus flancos. Minha alma, minha lama. Lo-lii-ta: a ponta da língua enrola no palato e desliza, três socalcos, até que estaca, ao terceiro, nos dentes. Lo. Li. Ta."
I might add more later, as this has been a really interesting challenge, and I opted for the foreignizing trick of extending the heterolingualism to the English language - that is, I chose "not to translate" some conspicuous phrases that would remind the reader that besides lavishing on French turns of phrase, Humbert was making a strident effort to answer to Nabokov's affair with the suburban American "second-rate English".
Cheers to all,
Margarida
Carolyn Kunin: Interesting how beautiful it is in other, especially Latin, languages. Actually richer sounding than in French, surprisingly. Thanks for sharing this with us. I had grown weary of hearing it in English. Any other translations? Czech perhaps? or Polish? Russian, anyone? Italiano - it must be translated into all of these, oder?Jansy Mello: Here it is in Italian, translated by Giulia Arborio Mella: “Lolita, luce della mia vita, fuoco dei miei lombi. Mio peccato, anima mia.” I loved all your finds qua "loins" but the "New Biblical" one, the "obviously figurative example, 'Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ' (1 Peter i.13), is tops, when linked to the additional wiki's explanation about Roman's costumes: "prepare for war" (against sexual fantasies?)All private editorial communications are read by both co-editors.