The (only?) brief passage in the novel where Humbert sees Lolita devoid of "nymphetic charm" -and as VN makes the reader understand how other people see her (and how the reader should see her eventually even if he temporarily yields to Humbert's stylistic skill)- is when he fetches her at summer camp, after her mother's death. It's in Part 1 ch 27 and Humbert calls this interlude "a very narrow human interval between two tiger heartbeats".

So that it's impossible to say whether the girl in Vivian Maier's photo is a nymphet or not; there's nothing objective in a young girl that could make her a nymphet in Humbert's eyes.

Laurence Hochard

Date: Sun, 30 Jun 2013 15:51:38 -0400
From: barriekarp@GMAIL.COM
Subject: Re: [NABOKV-L] Apropos of Dolores
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU

Thank you, now I see the photo you mean.

Only rarely have I seen Vivian Maier photos with direct gaze and eye contact.  Most photos I've seen by her of people are from behind in fact.  Her photos from behind or unobserved effect a particular emotional resonance. 

In that sense (direct gaze, eye contact), this photo and the photo of VN in car share category.

This is a dreamy girl, perhaps mesmerized.

She looks a lot more friendly than VN in his car photo, and relaxed, lacks his tension, contraction, apprehension.

Are you saying through his eyes a nymphet? and through Vivian Maier's eyes?

This girl isn't portrayed the way VN & his interpreters portray his nymphets.  One has to do something somehow to make this Vivian Maier girl a nymphet. 

--

Barrie Karp


On Sun, Jun 30, 2013 at 2:57 PM, NABOKV-L, English <nabokv-l@holycross.edu> wrote:

I am pasting in again below Vivien Maier's photograph of the young girl in the car that Barrie Karp does not seem to have gotten in the previous email.  Mary Efremov commented: "Possibly a nymphet?"
 
SES
 

--
Susan Elizabeth Sweeney
Co-Editor, NABOKV-L
 
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Google Search the archive Contact the Editors Visit "Nabokov Online Journal" Visit Zembla View Nabokv-L Policies Manage subscription options Visit AdaOnline View NSJ Ada Annotations Temporary L-Soft Search the archive

All private editorial communications are read by both co-editors.

Google Search the archive Contact the Editors Visit "Nabokov Online Journal" Visit Zembla View Nabokv-L Policies Manage subscription options Visit AdaOnline View NSJ Ada Annotations Temporary L-Soft Search the archive

All private editorial communications are read by both co-editors.