Lolita Writing Style

Poetic and Pretentious ("Fancy")

For a book known for being very risqu, Lolita has no four-letter words or graphic sex; that's because of
Humbert's style, which combines the lyrical and clinical, the poetic and the academic, evoking Edgar Allan
Poe and then height-charts, road maps, post cards, "evidence" and exhibits. Our narrator, Humbert, riddles
the narrative with wordplay and wry observations of American culture, while his black humor provides an
effective counterpoint to the pathos of the tragic plot.
The novel's humorous and ornate style is the result of double entendres, multilingual puns, anagrams, and
coinages. The style is also highly visual; Humbert often compels the reader to see what he describes. [What
do you expect from someone who says in the opening chapter "You can always count on a murderer for a
fancy prose style" (1.1.3)?] In this sense, the American love of cinema (and Humbert's feeling that he has
screen-star virility) seeps into the style of the novel.
Like the novel's genre, style often changes to serve Humbert's purpose. Half-way through the novel, he
reminds us:
My lawyer has suggested I give a clear, frank account of the itinerary [Lolita and I] followed, and I
suppose I have reached here a point where I cannot avoid that chore. (2.1.17)
Despite claiming an inconvenience at having to relate the details, Humbert clearly relishes it. He is at his
best when he lapses into the lyrical language of enchantment that's when he gets really fancy. Speaking
of a shopping trip for Lolita, Humbert muses:
Lifesize plastic figures of snug-nosed children with dun-colored, greenish, brown-dotted, faunish faces
floated around me. I realized I was the only shopper in that rather eerie place where I moved about
fishlike, in a glaucous aquarium. I sensed strange thoughts. (1.25.7)

Vladimir Nabokov, one of the 20th centurys greatest writers, is a highly aesthetic writer. Most of his work
shows an amazing interest in and talent for language. He deceptively uses language in Lolita to mask and
make the forbidden divine. Contextually, Lolita may be viewed as a novel about explicit sexual desire.
However, it is the illicit desire of a stepfather for his 12-year old stepdaughter. The novels subject
inevitably conjures up expectations of pornography, but there in not a
Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov. A study of the main character, Humbert Humbert, and how the author presen
Lolita is an impressive and complex novel that allows its author, Vladimir Nabokov, to create a
believable and realistic central character in the shape of Humbert Humbert. He appears ...
single obscene term in Lolita. Nabokov portrays erotic scenes and sensual images with a poetic sensibility
that belies the underlying meaning of the words. The beautiful manipulation of language coerces one to
understand Humberts interdict act of pedophilia. By combining erotic and poetic desire in the context of

the forbidden, Nabokov challenges the immorality of pornography, as illicit desire becomes masked in
sensuous language. Nabokov carefully tailors the language Humbert Humbert uses to tell the world of his
love for
Lolita, As Viewed By Homer
Lolita, As Viewed by Homer Homers Odyssey is the story of one mans epic journey to return home and
reestablish the proper order in his life. Throughout Odysseus ;journey, he ...
the forbidden nymphet, urging sympathy and innocence from the reader. However, the deeper meaning of
the forbidden sexual desire is clearly seen in the use of only slightly veiled metaphor alluding to Humbert's
own obsession. The very first words of the novel set the stage for Nabokov's masterful use of poetic and
erotic allusion. The poetic and romantic lyricism become the foundation for allusion from the deviancy of
Humberts sexual desires: "Lolita, light of my life, fire of
Lolita
Vladimir Nabokov s Lolita When Vladimir Nabokov finished writing the novel Lolita he knew the
explosive subject matter that he was now holding in his hands. After being turned down ...
my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to
tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta. She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one
sock. She was Lola in slacks. She was Dolly at school. She was Dolores on the dotted line. But in my arms
she was always Lolita". From the first, he juxtaposes the ordinary
Lolita
My analysis of LolitaIn 1958, Vladimir Nabokov created two of the unrelenting characters in the history of
literature: Humbert Humbert and Lolita Haze. His narrator's voice and main character, Humbert ...
with the sexual in his descriptive odes to love as well as simple statement reflecting her youth. The
juxtaposition of youth and sexual desire is the driving force behind the novel and the controversy. The
wording, however, is a mixture of romantic lyricism and obscene allusion. The tension is derived through
the sensuous beauty of the words rather than the image of the young girl, just four feet ten. The tip of
the tongue taking a trip of three steps
Sdfasdf
My analysis of Lolita In 1958, Vladimir Nabokov created two of the unrelenting characters in the ...
;refers to Humberts tongue and the palate he wishes to tap at three on the teeth ;is Lolitas. Evidently,
Humberts clever choice of words masks the interdict aspect of his sexual desires for Lolita. Poetic lines
such as light of my life, fire of my loins ;become fundamental in understanding the contextual allusion
from immorality in Humberts deviant sexual desires and behavior. The deviancy of Humberts sexual
encounters with Annable Leigh, his first love, at age 13 is masked
Lolita
Lolita In the novel, Lolita, written by Vladimir Nabokov, the setting takes place in New England during the
1950 s. The protagonist is a man named Humbert Humbert who is ...
by beautiful, erotic language, making their sexual act natural and decent. Humbert asserts that his love for
and memory of his first love provided the basis for his affair with Lolita. Humberts sexual experience with
Annabel takes place one summer night in a garden on the French Riviera. His description of their act

contains no sign of trepidation or self-censorship ;it is highly poetic from beginning to end. The narrator is
not so much trying to describe the erotic games
Humble Humbert: Mastermind Behind Lolita
Humble Humbert: I Think Not. Humbert Humbert. A delusional, sick, middle aged man obsessed with a
self created love for pre-pubescent girls he has namely dubbed nymphets. Right? Wrong, this ...
of two youngsters as to make us intimately feel their erotic excitement: She sat a little higher than I, and
whenever in her solitary ecstasy she was led to kiss me, her head would bend with a sleepy, soft, drooping
movement that was almost woeful, and her bare knees caught and compressed my wrist, and slackened
again ;and her quivering mouth, distorted by the acridity of some mysterious potion, with a sibilant intake
of breath came near to my
Lolita
Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita, is narrated by Humbert Humbert, the main character and villain of the book. At
first it seems that because of his actions it is obvious that the ...
face. She would try to relieve the pain of love by first roughly rubbing her dry lips against mine ;then my
darling would draw away with a nervous toss of her hair, and then again come darkly near and let me feed
on her open mouth, while with a generosity that was ready to offer her everything, my heart, my throat, my
entrails, I gave her to hold in her awkward fist the scepter of my passion. ;Therefore, Nabokovs highly
Clockwork Orange
In all of my reading, I have come to the conclusion that Anthony Burgess is one of the greatest literary
geniuss of the twentieth century. His masterpiece, A Clockwork Orange, ...
erotic, beautiful description becomes a justification for Humberts adolescent sexual deviance. Since
pornography is usually the one-sided attempt at gaining sexual pleasure from another object or person, the
author of a pornographic novel would have endeavored to describe the boys exploratory gestures in great
detail, focusing the description upon him. Instead Nabokov reverses the situation, making Annabel the
focal point of the text, though not its reflector. The scene begins with an alliterative evocation of her legs
(Her legs, her
Anthony Burgess's View That A Lack Of Free Choice Is Spiritually Condemning As Evident In A
Clockwork Orange
In all of my reading, I have come to the conclusion that Anthony Burgess is one of the greatest literary
genius s of the twentieth century. His masterpiece, A Clockwork ...
lovely live legs) through which one can picture, as in a mirror, young Humberts erotic pleasure while he
is caressing them and adult Humberts excitement as he remembers the event. These legs are hospitable but
not wanton, Annabels (frayed) modesty being necessary to contain young Humberts ardor and to allow
the poetic unfolding of the scene. In this marvelous passage from Lolita, one feels that Nabokov not only
meant to mimic as closely as possible the voluptuousness experienced by the
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
The history of the illustrious film studio Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, more commonly known as MGM, begins
with Marcus Loew, a first-generation American and son of Austrian immigrants, who began purchasing
penny arcades ...

two adolescents and to make us feel it intensely in sympathy. But also to cast aside the vulgar clichs used
in literature to represent sex, and, step by step, to prepare us for the blossoming of the final metaphor which
bears little trace of trepidation and self-censorship. The tailored elements are not meant to turn the girl into
a tumescent ;object nor as a euphemism representing the girls genitals, under cover of the fetish. They
are not even referred to
Song of the Unsung Antihero:
Abstract: The sober treatment of a lowly, unheroic protagonist in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman
flatters the audience. The more obvious way that it flatters us is by alienating ...
as a forbidden nook, as the phrase my hand located what it sought, ;in which there is hardly any trace of
self-censorship, confirms. The girls genitals are neither named nor described ;they are simply designated
deictically as the sublime goal of a quest. Here, the anatomic word or the exaggerated metaphor would
inevitably mar the poetic beauty of the passage and betray the inadequacy between the words and the
idealized referent. Humbert, as a narrator, does not insist on his
Song Of The Unsung Antihero:
Abstract: The sober treatment of a lowly, unheroic protagonist in Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman
flatters the audience. The more obvious way that it flatters us is by alienating ...
gesture as a protagonist ;on the other hand, he extensively, poetically, evokes the effects of his caresses on
Annabel who seems to be teetering between pleasure and pain. The scene is all the more exciting as the
girls gestures, which are described in such voluptuous detail, inevitably reflect the caresses lavished on her
by the boy ;they mirror the rhythm and configurations of his caresses. The protagonist and the narrator
betray the same fascination in front of Annabels voluptuous contortions, drawing their excitement from
the spectacle, so that the final gesture is hardly indecent: it is the ultimate gift made by the young boy to the
ecstatic virgin. There is no trace of vulgarity in the phrase, which is both a metaphor and a metonymy and
constitutes a kind of poetic climax. After the implied evocation of the girls genitals, the narrator had no
choice but to invent a beautiful poetic formula which would sound at once natural and relevant. Unlike the
explicit description of his sexual encounter in adolescence, Humbert avoids extensive detail of the sexual
act itself with Lolita. To Humbert, Lolita allows the deviancy of sexual union because she represents both
deviancy from the norm and the sexual freedom of his youth. Although there is no real sexual act, the
description of the Sunday morning scene on the divan is one of the most erotic and poetic passages,
showing the extreme deviancy of Humberts sexual desires. (57-61) Despite the highly poetic language
Humbert uses to mask the magnitude of his interdict desires, and make the reader sympathetic, the narrator
realizes that his sexual hunger for nymphets is not moral in the eyes of society. Here, the narrator takes
endless precautions, begging us to sympathize with him as a protagonist and to participate in the scene: I
want my learned readers to participate in the scene I am about to replay ;I want them to examine its every
detail and see for themselves how careful, how chaste, the whole wine-sweet event is if viewed with what
my lawyer
Urmnd o direcie general n exegeza nabokovian, susinut i de ctre V. Ledenev2,

susinem c exist trei componente tematice universale n metaromanul nabokovian: tema

paradisului pierdut al copilriei, tema dualitii universului artistic, a raportului dramatic
dintre realitate i iluzie i tema metafizic a altei lumi, a existenei transcendentale
(potustoronnost). Din aceste metateme se dezvolt i alte teme, precum: banalitatea
transformat n trivialitate, concepia despre creaie i despre contiina creatoare a scriitorului,
relaia art-pseudoart, opoziia gnoseologic eu-ceilali, timpul, moartea, memoria, unicitatea
eroului, Rusia i Occidentul. Credem c toate acestea concur la realizarea unei metateme
De asemenea, analizm un simbol dominant n romanele lui Nabokov - cel al nimfetei, neles, potrivit
Dianei Tetean1 , ca o fiin fascinant, de natur ambivalent ce amintete de Lilith, figur feminin
central a demonologiei iudaice. Analiznd acest simbol n romanul Lolita, relevm urmnd observaia
lui V. E. Aleksandrov2 - caracterul fictiv al nimfetei, ntruct putem argumenta faptul c teoria
protagonistului despre nimfete se dovedete a fi doar un rezultat al imaginaiei sale.
Considerm c, n estetica lui Nabokov, autorul, ca subiect al creaiei, reprezint un element deosebit de
important n procesul de nelegere a operei, n vreme ce jocul constituie un mijloc de a exista pentru
personalitatea creatoare i pentru opera de art. Universul interior al creatorului este un spaiu n care
scriitorul se dezvluie i se ascunde deopotriv, iar opera se relev a fi un joc intuitiv de senzaii, desfurat
n contiina autorului. Este un motiv ca alteritatea s nu fie neleas ca o contiin strin, situat n afara
universului interior al scriitorului, ci ca dublu al autorului, fiindc cellalt se afl nuntru, nu n afara
contiinei scriitorului. n acest fel se explic tendina lui Nabokov de a face din personajele sale mti
discursive ale autorului.
n refleciile sale asupra literaturii, Nabokov formulez ideea referitoare la existena ascuns i
transparent a autorului n text, ceea ce nseamn, potrivit opiniei sale, c, n cartea sa, scriitorul trebuie s
fie pretutindeni i nicieri, invizibil i omniprezent; dar chiar i atunci, continu scriitorul, cnd autorul
este absolut invizibil, el este disipat n ntreaga sa carte, iar absena sa se transform ntr-un fel de prezen
prismatic1.
Prezena autorului n textul nabokovian apare n grade diferite, oscilnd de la absena total la prezena
absolut, cea de-a doua situaie devenind posibil n cazul identitii dintre autor i personaj. Acest
lucru se exprim prin imaginea personajului principal care i asum i ipostaza de creator al textului,
cruia autorul real i atribuie o parte din funciile sale. n cazul dat, grania dintre autor i erou este
convenional sau, mai exact, inexistent, lucru ce se complic prin modul original de organizare a
povestirii n textul operei: textul se nate i se creeaz n faa cititorului. n textul lui Nabokov rmne

mereu o component ce reclam ntoarcerea spre autorul neles drept limit a textului: este vorba
despre prima i ultima fraz a operei, fraze care, n esen, indic graniele romanului ce nu permit
textului s se disperseze n afar.
Considerm c, prin mtile sale discursive, creatorul nabokovian se dezvluie i se ascunde totodat n
lumea operei, n spatele unor instane ale textului, purttoare ale poziiei auctoriale: autorul abstract/
implicat, naratorul fictiv, autorul biografic sau imaginea autorului, personajele principale sau secundare.
Personajele principale i cele secundare sau episodice i, mai trziu, naratorul constituie interesante moduri
de deghizare a autorului n textul lui Nabokov. Alte forme de deghizare sunt subtile aluzii, aparent
nensemnate, inserate surprinztor n text, care ascund dimensiunea unei contiinei superioare: utilizarea
neateptat ntr-un text preponderent impersonal-obiectiv a persoanei I plural sau a unor imagini-semne
precum fluturele, plasa de prins fluturi, cartea sau ghinda butaforic, prezena unor strini ce vorbesc o
limb exotic, umbra, bltoaca, visul premonitoriu, personajul invizibil etc

The Deceptive Veil of Language in Lolita

Elizabeth Mulready
The language of literature can affect a reader in many different ways. An author can manipulate the
language he or she uses to create a specific meaning. In Vladimir Nabokovs novel Lolita, the narrator
portrays language in a certain manner to stir feeling in the reader. Humbert Humberts changing voice is
meant to emphasize the aesthetic nature of his appreciation for young nymphettes rather than expose him
for a perverse pedophile, suggesting that even the most disturbing things can be momentarily masked by
the beauty of art.
The very first time Humbert introduces the object of his affection, on the first page, he uses such stirring
language that it is almost poetic to the reader. The very first sentence reads, Lolita, light of my life, fire of
my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to
tap, at three on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta (Nabokov 1), reducing Lolitas name to a rhythm of syllables.
Calling her the light of his life almost makes the reader feel this intense emotion that Humbert feels for
Lolita. The reader understands that he is deeply in love with this girl, and aesthetically moved by her
existence. Even her name invokes such a passionate response in him that he appreciates the movement of
his tongue as it moves to pronounce it. In this artistic introduction, in only the first paragraph of the novel,
the reader gets a sense of how truly enthralled Humbert is with Lolita, regardless of their difference in age.
In the same opening, Humbert Humbert also says, You can always count on a murderer for a fancy prose
style (Nabokov 1), suggesting that the narrator himself is aware of his changing voice. He acknowledges
the fact that he is presenting his reader with a piece of language that is fancy in a way that might appeal
to his audience. In the story, Humbert is writing this memoir specifically for the jury of his trial. His
fictional writing style is designed to charm their senses. His intention is to cover up the disturbing truth of
his relationship with the adolescent, Dolores, or Lolita as he calls her, with the intricacy of his language. At
every point in the novel involving pedophilia or Humberts obsession with Lolita, his voice changes from
one reciting facts or events in his story to one thats language is so elaborate and rich that the readers
senses are almost heightened by its aesthetic appeal.

Anthony Moore, whose article How unreliable is Humbert in Lolita? appeared in the Journal of Modern
Literature, suggested that Humberts changing voice implied his unreliability as a narrator. He goes so far
as to call Humbert a deceiving individual whos alternate voice of linguistic artistry, is representative of
his solipsistic world. Moore believes that through the partnering of Humberts two voices, the narrator
achieves a sense of reality and maturity by the end of the novel. He explains the two structures of
Humberts memoir, one the sequential account of the life of a nympholept[] the other is the portrait of
the artist as a middle aged man which unfolds through his performance in the act of writing (Moore),
suggesting that Humberts first voice is more factual and realistic, whereas his second voice is less realistic
and more of a fantastic performance devoted to the act of writing and creating language. This second voice,
designed by the narrator to distract his audience from the morally unacceptable aspects of his writing, is
merely a diversionary tactic that sugarcoats his story. Moore claims Humbert is in character when his
sense of entitlement presumes that he fools an intellectually enfeebled readership with burlesques of
various forms of narrative(Moore). Humberts alternate voice is an act, where he believes he can pull the
wool over the eyes of his audience and hide the truth behind his linguistic tricks. He becomes a magician of
words and puts on a show to distract his audience from the disgusting truth. Moore also references a quote
from the book, where Humbert says, Oh, my Lolita, I have only words to play with! (Nabokov 32),
calling it a truism seasoned with wistful lyricism. The truth is that Humbert has nothing besides his skills
as an artist of language, but he even disguises this with his emotional expression to his beloved Lolita. It is
part of Humbert Humberts game to hide the truth by manipulating his language with poetic phrases that
are aesthetically pleasing to his audience.
Andrew Moore also makes sure to point out that Humbert is a self-proclaimed trickster. He cites Humberts
quote about trifling with psychiatrists: cunningly leading them on; never letting them see that you know
all the tricks of the trade; inventing for them elaborate dreams, pure classics in style (Nabokov 34).
Humbert is no novice at creating fantastic detail to mask an unnerving truth, whether it is a psychological
delusion or pedophilia. His invention of these stylistically classic, elaborate dreams were a means of
deluding his psychiatrists. Again, he is acquires his sense of entitlement through deceiving others with his
creative style. Moores point is that Humbert is unreliable in the sense that he fools his audience by
diverting their attention to his fancy prose. Humbert does seem to achieve a sort of distraction from his
grotesque reality with the art he creates in his language, further suggesting that art or aesthetic beauty can
serve as a mask to hide behind.
Consistently throughout the novel, Humberts stylistic mask shows up to cover the more unsettling aspects
of his memoir. For example, the scene where Lolita lays her legs across his lap and he becomes aroused,
Humbert engages the reader so deeply in his complex and artistically driven prose that they might read the
scene in a less harsh tone. He even sets up the scene for his audience, as if set in a play, again suggesting
that his words are all part of an act or performance. He describes Lolitas appearance in detail:
She wore that day a pretty print dress that I had seen on her once before, ample in the skirt, tight in the
bodice, short sleeved, pink, checkered with darker pin, and to complete the color scheme, she had painted
her lips and was holding in her hollowed hands a beautiful, banal, Eden-red apple. (Nabokov 57)
This paints a picture of his object of devotion, diverting the reader from the idea that he is in fact, devoted
to a child. He wants his audience to see this beautiful image as he sees it, as a fantastic piece of art that
shouldnt be touched by moral values. His linguistic style only intensifies as the scene goes on. He
describes Lolita biting into her apple and says his heart was like snow under thin crimson skin (58),
employing the use of a poetic line to manipulate the image of his own improper reaction to a young girl
eating an apple. Its a beautiful lyric that manages to cover the truth behind it. The end of the scene is
completely distorted by Humberts artistic style. He describes,

Lola the bobby-soxer, devouring her immemorial fruit, singing through its juice, losing her slipper, rubbing
the heel of her slipperless foot in its sloppy anklet, against the pile of old magazines heaped on my left on
the sofa- and every movement she made, every shuffle and ripple, helped me to conceal and to improve the
secret system of tactile correspondence between beast and beauty. (59)
Again, this image becomes a portrait of Lolita that we can admire along with Humbert. His artistry is an
attempt to invoke the same appreciation of beauty in his audience, while concealing the horrific reality
behind it. Lolita devouring her fruit, and singing through its juice is a scene completely elaborated and
enhanced by Humberts linguistic skill in order to appeal to the reader. He even refers to using Lolita for
his own sexual pleasure, as a system of correspondence between the two of them. Again, Humbert is
cloaking this inappropriate event with the beauty hes created in the idea of a partnership between himself
and Lolita. Without the artists mask, the true nature of the event can be exposed for what it is. However,
Humbert never falters in his performance and consistently presents his reader with words laden with poetic
expression.
Lolita is a testimony to art itself. Humberts narration exemplifies the idea of language as an art form as he
uses intricate word play to appeal to an audience. His skill is ultimately a performance that attempts to
disguise his unorthodox appreciation of young women, or Lolita in particular. The beauty in his words veils
the harshness of pedophilia. Though his linguistic artistry serves as a mask, it only manages to momentarily
distract the readers from the truth. In the end of the novel, even Humbert himself acknowledges reality as it
is, and readers walk away from his memoir with the satisfaction that morality cannot just be compromised
by aesthetic trickery.
Works Cited
Moore, Anthony R. "How unreliable is Humbert in Lolita?" Journal of Modern Literature 25.1 (2001):
71+. Academic OneFile. Web. 13 Dec. 2009.
<http://find.galegroup.com/gtx/start.do?prodId=AONE&userGroupName=mlin_s_umass>.
Nabokov, Vladimir. Lolita. New York: Vintage, 1998.