Humbert Humbert

The narrator and protagonist of Lolita. Humbert is an erudite European intellectual with an obsessive love for young girls and a history of mental illness. He manages to seduce the reader with his gift for beautiful language, but he is nonetheless capable of rape and murder. Humbert, despite his knowledge of the world, becomes self-aware only toward the end of the novel, when he realizes he has ruined Lolita’s childhood. He writes the story of Lolita from his prison cell, where he awaits trial for murder. However, he dies of heart failure soon after Lolita’s death.

Dolores (Lolita) Haze

The novel’s young title character. An adolescent, she is seductive, flirtatious, and capricious, and she initially finds herself attracted to Humbert, competing with her mother for his affections. However, when his demands become more pressing, and as she spends more time with children her own age, she begins to tire of him. Humbert attempts to educate her, but she remains attached to American popular culture and unimpressed with his cultured ideas. Eventually, she runs off with Clare Quilty, but he abandons her. She eventually marries Dick Schiller and dies in childbirth.

Clare Quilty

Humbert’s shadow and double. Quilty is a successful playwright and child pornographer who takes a liking to Lolita from an early age. He follows her throughout the story, ultimately kidnapping her away from Humbert. Though Lolita is in love with him, he eventually tires of her. Nabokov conceals Quilty’s importance to the story until nearly the end. Quilty is amoral, highly literate, and completely corrupt.

Charlotte Haze

Lolita’s mother and Humbert’s wife. A middle-class woman who aspires to be cultured and sophisticated, Charlotte never manages to be much more than a bourgeois housewife. Her relationship with Lolita is strained throughout the novel. Charlotte worships Humbert and stays blind to his pedophilia and lust for her daughter until she discovers his diary. She dies soon after in a car accident.

Annabel Leigh

Humbert’s childhood love. Annabel and her family visit Humbert’s father’s hotel as tourists. Despite having many physical encounters, Humbert and Annabel are unable to consummate their adolescent love. She later dies of typhus in Corfu. Humbert remains obsessed with her memory until he meets Lolita.

Valeria

Humbert’s first wife, whom he married to cure himself of his addiction to young girls. Humbert finds Valeria intellectually inferior and often bullies her. When he plans to move to America, Valeria leaves him to marry a Russian taxi driver. Valeria and her husband die in California years later.

Jean Farlow

A friend of Charlotte’s and the wife of John Farlow. John and Jean Farlow are among Charlotte and Humbert’s few friends. After Charlotte’s death, she secretly kisses Humbert. She eventually dies of cancer.

John Farlow

A friend of Charlotte’s, married to Jean. He handles the Haze estate after Charlotte dies, but he eventually relegates his duties to a lawyer because of the complicated nature of the case. After Jean dies, he marries someone else and lives an adventurous life in South America.

Dick Schiller

Lolita’s husband. Dick is a simple, good-natured working man who is deaf in one ear, Dick has no idea about the sexual relationship between Humbert and Lolita, believing Humbert to simply be Lolita’s father. Dick receives a job offer in Alaska, where he plans to take Lolita, whom he calls Dolly.

Rita

An alcoholic whom Humbert lives with after he loses Lolita. Toward the end of their affair, Rita has many encounters with the law and becomes paranoid that Humbert will leave her. Humbert finds her comforting but regards her as simple-minded.

Mona

Lolita’s favorite friend at the Beardsley School for Girls. Mona has already had an affair with a marine and appears to be flirting with Humbert. However, she refuses to divulge any of Lolita’s secrets. She helps Lolita lie to Humbert when Humbert discovers that Lolita has been missing her piano lessons.

Gaston Grodin

A plump, beloved French professor at Beardsley College. Gaston is popular in the community and helps Humbert find his house and settle into Beardsley. They often play chess together, but Humbert thinks him a poor scholar and not very smart. Gaston also has a predilection for young boys, which no one in Beardsley seems to notice.

Mrs. Pratt

The headmistress of the Beardsley School for Girls. Humbert is unimpressed with Pratt’s emphasis on social skills and her resistance to traditional academic approaches. She calls Humbert to her office to discuss Lolita’s disciplinary problems and expresses concern that Lolita is not developing sexually.

Ivor Quilty

Clare Quilty’s uncle, a dentist. Dreamy and well liked, he thinks of his nephew with kind indulgence. He has been friends with the Haze family all his life. Humbert finds Clare Quilty by visiting Ivor at his office.

Monique

A French nymphet prostitute. Initially, Humbert is attracted to her nymphet qualities and begins an affair with her. However, he becomes disillusioned by her maturation and abruptly ends the affair.

John Ray, Jr., Ph.D.

The author of the foreword and the editor of Humbert’s memoir.

Shirley Holmes

Lolita’s summer-camp director.

Charlie

Shirley Holmes’s son, who also works at the camp. Lolita has her first sexual experiences with him, but she is unimpressed by his manners. Later Humbert discovers that he has been killed in Korea.

Barbara

Lolita’s friend at camp. Barbara has sex with Charlie in the bushes while Lolita stands guard. Finally, Barbara convinces Lolita to “try it,” which she does.

Vivian Darkbloom

Clare Quilty’s female writing partner. Lolita confuses Humbert by telling him that Vivian is a man and Clare is a woman. After Quilty’s death, Vivian writes Quilty’s biography. “Vivian Darkbloom” is an anagram for “Vladimir Nabokov.”

John (Jack) Windmuller

The lawyer to whom John Farlow entrusts the Haze estate. He handles the estate but wants nothing to do with the sordidness surrounding the impending trial.

Frederick Beale, Jr.

The driver of the car that kills Charlotte.

Chapter 1 - Humbert lists the many different names of his love: Dolores, Lo, Dolly, Lolita. He admits to being a murderer and states that he will present his case to the readers, whom he calls “his jury.” Humbert explains that Lolita was not the first girl-child in his life and refers to a particular girl he calls “exhibit number one.”

Chapter 2 - Humbert begins his story from his birth in Paris and his childhood on the Riviera, where a frequently absent father and a kind, yet strict aunt raise him. His mother had died suddenly, and he describes this traumatic event with only two brief words: “picnic, lightning.” His father runs a luxurious hotel, and Humbert lives a healthy, happy childhood among the Riviera tourists. He states that his sexual education up until the age of thirteen has been sporadic and somewhat dreamlike, based on old French novels and movies.

Chapter 3 - In the summer of 1923, Humbert meets a twelve-year-old girl named Annabel Leigh, who is traveling with her parents. Although Humbert and Annabel are initially just friends, that friendship soon changes into passionate, adolescent love. Humbert states that he doesn’t have as clear a picture of Annabel as he does of Lolita, though he lyrically recounts their awkward, fumbling attempts at sex. Annabel and Humbert never manage to consummate their love, and four months later she dies of typhus in Corfu.

Chapter 4 - Humbert wonders if his predilection for young girls began with Annabel and claims that she and Lolita are somehow connected. He claims that his brief encounter with Annabel had physical and spiritual components that today’s children would never understand. He mourns the fact that he was never able to complete the sexual act with Annabel and describes one encounter in the mimosa grove where they came very close. He tells the reader that he was only able to break free of Annabel’s spell when he met Lolita, more than twenty years later.

Chapter 5 - Humbert discusses his college days, when he gave up the study of psychiatry for the study of English literature. Moderately successful, he publishes a few books. During this time, he visits many kinds of prostitutes but finds himself mostly drawn to a particular type of girl, the nymphet. A nymphet, according to Humbert, is a girl between the ages of nine and fourteen, not necessarily beautiful, but possessing an elusive, sexually appealing quality. He attributes this quality to a magic spell and makes references to historical and cultural instances of romance and marriage between underage girls and older men. He states that that the allure of the nymphet can only be understood by adult men who are at least thirty years older and who have the wisdom to understand the girls’ enchanting qualities. While Humbert spends his time watching nymphets in the playground, he rarely acts on his obsession. As an attractive man, Humbert finds himself with many adult female admirers. However, most of them repulse him. Humbert finds it unfair that a man can bed a girl of seventeen but not one of twelve.

Chapter 6 - Humbert wonders what happens to nymphets as they grow older. He describes his affair with the young prostitute Monique, which ends when Monique matures out of her nymphet phase. Humbert then encounters an aging procuress who provides him with another prostitute who, although young, isn’t a nymphet in Humbert’s view. When he tries to leave, the girl becomes angry. Humbert takes her upstairs and pays her, but he doesn’t sleep with her.

Chapter 7 - In an effort to curtail his illicit desires, Humbert decides to get married. He courts and marries a Polish doctor’s daughter named Valeria. He finds the conquest rather easy, given his good looks, but states that despite his success with adult women, he considers himself hopeless in matters of sex.

Chapter 8 - Humbert chooses Valeria because of her childlike nature and flirtatious, doll-like airs, and she quickly falls in love with him. Despite his initial attraction to her girlish personality, Humbert finds Valeria’s intellectual inferiority distasteful, and he rarely sleeps with her. After some time, an uncle dies and leaves him an inheritance, but the will includes the condition that Humbert move to America and take some interest in the uncle’s business. Valeria feels reluctant to leave Paris, though Humbert tries to convince her that she’ll enjoy America. Finally, Valeria confesses to having an affair with a taxi driver. Despite his relative indifference to Valeria, Humbert feels deeply betrayed and thinks about killing her. Courteous and apologetic, the taxi driver arrives to take Valeria away. He does not leave Humbert alone with Valeria at any moment, so Humbert can’t kill her. Valeria rather melodramatically packs her things and leaves. He later learns that Valeria died in childbirth in 1945, after she and her husband moved to California to participate in a bizarre psychological experiment.

At this point in the story, Humbert becomes distracted by the poor state of the prison library. He names some of the books available, including the Children’s Encyclopedia, which he likes for the pictures of Girl Scouts. He notes a surprising coincidence in a copy of Who’s Who in the Limelight and transcribes a page for the reader. The page includes the playwright Clare Quilty, who wrote such plays as The Little Nymph and Fatherly Love. Who’s Who claims that Quilty’s works with children are particularly notable. The transcribed page also contains an entry on Dolores Quine, and Humbert says that seeing Lolita’s given name, Dolores, still gives him a thrill. He states that his Lolita might have appeared in a play called The Murdered Playwright, and he plays word games with the names “Quine” and “Quilty.” He notes that he now has only words to play with.

Chapter 9 - Humbert recounts his travels to New York, where he takes a job transcribing French literature and writing perfume ads. He watches the nymphets in Central Park and later has a breakdown due to the stress of his job. After his release from the sanitarium, Humbert takes part in an exploratory trip to the Arctic, where he is charged with studying the psychology of his teammates. The trip improves his health, but he finds the project tedious and publishes a phony analysis of the psychological issues he was supposed to be studying. Upon his return, he has another breakdown and is institutionalized once again, where he enjoys confusing the doctors with fictional symptoms. This behavior improves his mood greatly. He stays for a few months before checking out and reentering the world.

Chapter 10 - Upon his release from the sanitarium, Humbert heads for a small town to stay with a Mr. McCoo. A relative of a friend of his uncle’s, McCoo has a twelve-year-old daughter, whom Humbert fantasizes about. When he arrives in the town of Ramsdale, however, he learns that the McCoos’ house has burned down. Mr. McCoo recommends a boarding house at 342 Lawn Street, run by the widowed Mrs. Haze. Neither Mrs. Haze nor the house impress Humbert. He describes her as a fatally conventional woman, one who, despite her so-called cultural and community activities, has many pretensions and little imagination. He realizes with distaste that she will probably try to seduce him. He finds the house horribly unappealing until he sees Mrs. Haze’s twelve-year-old daughter, Dolores, sitting on the lawn. Humbert finds her resemblance to Annabel uncanny and immediately remembers his time with Annabel twenty-five years ago. He decides to stay.

Chapter 11 - From prison, Humbert recalls passages from his diary regarding the time he lived at the Haze house in 1947 and his initial thoughts of Lolita. Almost all his entries describe encounters with Lolita and contain romantic descriptions of her nymphet qualities, as well as his various attempts to lure her into his presence. Delighted, he learns that he resembles a celebrity Lolita adores, which causes Charlotte to tease Lolita about having a crush on Humbert. Though he knows that he should not be keeping a journal of his attraction, Humbert can’t help himself. He often goes into Lolita’s room and touches her things. He describes Charlotte Haze disdainfully and hates her for always complaining about Lolita. He knows that he must behave himself with Charlotte around, so he daydreams about killing her.

Chapter 12 - Charlotte, Lolita, and Humbert plan to go to Hourglass Lake for a picnic, but the trip continually gets postponed. Humbert gets a further disappointment when he learns that a classmate of Lolita’s will accompany them. Humbert learns that the previous boarder, elderly Mrs. Phalen, broke her hip and had to leave suddenly, which enabled Humbert to come and live with the Hazes. Humbert expresses amazement at how fate led him here, to his dream nymphet.

Chapter 13 - One Sunday, when the trip to the lake gets postponed yet again, Lolita becomes angry and refuses to go to church with Charlotte. Delighted, Humbert has Lolita all to himself. When Lolita starts eating an apple, Humbert teasingly takes it away from her. He finally returns it and, as Lolita sings a popular song, discreetly rubs against her until he climaxes. Lolita runs off, apparently without having noticed anything.

Chapter 14 - Famished, Humbert goes into town for lunch. He feels proud that he managed to satisfy himself without corrupting the child, and he wavers between wanting to repeat the experience and wanting to preserve Lolita’s purity. Later, Charlotte tells Humbert that she is sending Lolita away to summer camp for three weeks. Humbert hides his misery by pretending to have a toothache. Mrs. Haze recommends that he see their neighbor, Dr. Quilty, a dentist and the uncle of a playwright.

Chapter 15 - Humbert considers leaving the boarding house until Lolita returns in the fall. Lolita doesn’t want to go to camp, but Charlotte dismisses her tears. Humbert muses that Lolita might lose her purity while she’s away and cease to be a nymphet. Just before she enters the car to go to camp, Lolita rushes back and kisses Humbert.

Chapter 16 - Still reeling from Lolita’s kiss, Humbert is handed a note by the maid, Louise. Charlotte Haze has written him a letter, confessing her love for him and asking that he leave—unless he reciprocates the feeling and marries her. Humbert goes into Lolita’s room and looks at the clippings on the wall. One of the men in the pictures resembles Humbert, and Lolita has written “H. H.” on it.

Chapter 17 - Humbert considers marrying Charlotte so he can stay close to Lolita. He even toys with the idea of giving both mother and daughter sleeping pills in order to fondle Lolita. He would stop short, he thinks, of having sex with the girl. Humbert decides to marry Charlotte and calls the summer camp to tell her. However, Charlotte has already left, and he reaches Lolita instead. He informs her that he plans to marry her mother. Lolita seems distracted and not particularly interested—she has already forgotten about Humbert at camp. However, Humbert believes he will win her back after the wedding. He makes himself a drink and waits for Charlotte to return.

Chapter 18 - Charlotte and Humbert become lovers and start planning the wedding. Charlotte quizzes him on whether he’s a good Christian and says she will commit suicide if he isn’t. Charlotte enjoys the prestige of being engaged to Humbert and waits on him hand and foot. Humbert states that he actually enjoys some aspects of the affair and that it seems to improve Charlotte’s looks. Humbert tells himself that this helps him get as close as possible to Lolita. Charlotte responds to the engagement by becoming highly social and redecorating the house. Charlotte doesn’t have very many close friends besides John and Jean Farlow, whose niece, Rosaline, goes to school with Lolita.

Chapter 19 - Humbert describes Charlotte further and mentions that she is about to suffer a bad accident. Humbert finds Charlotte extremely jealous, as she asks him to confess all his previous relationships and mistresses. Humbert makes up some stories to satisfy her romantic notions. He grows used to Charlotte, but her constant criticism of Lolita still secretly upsets him.

Chapter 20 - Charlotte and Humbert go to the nearby lake in the last week of summer. Charlotte confesses that she wants to get a real maid and send Lolita off to boarding school. Humbert seethes quietly but, afraid of repeating his experience with Valeria, doesn’t want to intimidate her. He considers killing her there at the lake but cannot bring himself to do so. Jean and John Farlow join them, and Jean tells of seeing two young people embracing by the water. She starts to tell a story of Ivor Quilty’s nephew but gets interrupted.

Chapter 21 - Humbert tries the silent treatment on Charlotte, to no effect. However, when she decides they will go to England in the fall, Humbert argues against it, and she immediately becomes contrite for making plans without him. Regaining some control in the relationship pleases Humbert. Charlotte tries to be near him as much as possible and mentions going to stay at a hotel called the Enchanted Hunters. She wonders why he locks the small table in his study. Humbert teases her by saying it contains love letters. Later, Humbert worries whether the table’s key remains secure in its hiding place.

Chapter 22 - Charlotte informs Humbert that Lolita can only begin attending boarding school in January. Meanwhile, Humbert visits a doctor and pretends to have insomnia, in order to procure stronger sleeping pills to use on Lolita and Charlotte. When he returns from the appointment, he finds that Charlotte has broken into the table in his study and found the journal in which he details his lust for Lolita. Bitterly angry, she threatens to leave with Lolita, having already written some letters. Humbert goes into the kitchen to mix a drink and decides to tell Charlotte that the journal was merely part of a novel he’s working on. Just as he finishes the drink, the phone rings, and a man informs Humbert that Charlotte has been run over by a car.

Chapter 23 - After receiving the phone call, Humbert races outside to discover Charlotte dead. She had tripped on the wet cement and fallen into the path of a car, which was swerving to avoid hitting a dog. Humbert quietly retrieves the letters she had been planning to mail and tears them up. The Farlows arrive, and Humbert begins drinking. That night, Humbert reads the letters, one of which is addressed to Lolita, one to a reformatory school where Charlotte planned to send Lolita, and one to Humbert himself. Later, Humbert implies to John and Jean Farlow that he and Charlotte had an affair many years ago, when he was still married to Valeria. Jean rushes to the conclusion that Humbert is Lolita’s real father. Humbert asks them not to tell Lolita of her mother’s death, so as not to ruin her time at camp. He tells them of his plans to take her away on a trip.

Chapter 24 - The driver of the car that killed Charlotte, Mr. Frederick Beale, Jr., comes to apologize but states that Charlotte was at fault. Humbert agrees. In private, Humbert feels guilty over not having destroyed his journal, and weeps. The next day, as Humbert leaves to get Lolita, Jean, who has become very attracted to him, kisses him passionately.

Chapter 25 - Humbert muses on the coincidences that have brought him to Lolita but doesn’t allow himself to become too excited by the thought of being with her. Trying to plan how to steal Lolita away without looking suspicious, Humbert becomes plagued by doubts. He plans to take her out of the camp by claiming that her mother has fallen sick, but he can’t be sure that Lolita hasn’t already heard about Charlotte’s death. Unfortunately, Lolita has gone on a hike and won’t return for two days. Humbert buys Lolita many presents, including clothing, as he knows her measurements almost by heart. He also makes a reservation at a hotel called the Enchanted Hunters, which Charlotte had mentioned to him before her death.

Chapter 26 - Humbert, worn down by prison life, considers abandoning his account. He writes Lolita’s name out several times, and then commands the person who will eventually print his novel to keep repeating her name until the page is full.

Chapter 27 - When Humbert picks up Lolita from the camp, he thinks for a moment that he might want to simply be a good father to her. That moment passes, however, and he realizes he still loves her. Humbert tells Lolita that her mother is in the hospital, and they drive off. Lolita tells Humbert that she’s been unfaithful to him, but then she kisses him flirtatiously. In the midst of their kiss, a policeman stops them and asks after the whereabouts of a blue sedan, which Humbert and Lolita profess not to have seen. They arrive at the Enchanted Hunters and take room 342. Unable to get a cot for Lolita, Humbert realizes they will have to share a double bed. Lolita giggles and says that would be incest. In the room, Lolita shows Humbert how to kiss, but she soon loses interest in what they’re doing. Downstairs, in the dining room, Lolita spots someone who looks like Quilty, the celebrity she admires. Back in the room, Humbert gives Lolita a sleeping pill, and she soon becomes drowsy. As she falls asleep, she tells Humbert that she has been a disgusting girl, but Humbert tells her to tell him tomorrow. Humbert locks the door and goes downstairs.

Chapter 28 - Humbert eagerly anticipates caressing the unconscious Lolita. He claims that he hadn’t planned on taking Lolita’s innocence or purity but merely wanted to fondle her while she slept. He admits that it should have been clear to him then that Lolita and Annabel were not the same, and that if he had known what pain and trouble would follow, he would have done things differently. Downstairs, Humbert wanders through the hotel’s public rooms. On the terrace, he encounters a man who insinuatingly accuses him of behaving inappropriately with Lolita. Each time Humbert asks the man to repeat himself, however, the man feigns innocence and pretends to make idle chit-chat about the weather. The man, who remains half-hidden in the shadows, invites Humbert and Lolita to lunch the following day, but Humbert plans to be gone with Lolita by then.

Chapter 29 - Humbert returns to the hotel room to find Lolita half awake. He climbs into bed with her but doesn’t make any advances. Anxious and excited, Humbert stays awake all night. In the morning, Lolita wakes up and nuzzles him as he feigns sleep. She asks him if he ever had sex as a youth. When Humbert says no, Lolita has sex with him. Humbert states that, for her, sex was just another activity between children, unconnected to what adults do behind closed doors.

Chapter 30 - Humbert launches into a dreamy description of how he would repaint the Enchanted Hunters hotel in order to make the setting of his first encounter with Lolita a more natural, romantic one.

Chapter 31 - Humbert once again defends his actions as natural, using history as evidence. He notes that according to an old magazine in the prison library, a girl from the more temperate climates of America becomes mature in her twelfth year. He further reminds the reader, whom he calls his jury, that he wasn’t even Lolita’s first lover.

Chapter 32 - Lolita recounts her first sexual experiences. Astonished by Humbert’s naïveté, she tells him that many of her friends have already experimented sexually with one another. At summer camp, she used to stand guard while her friend Barbara and Charlie, the camp-mistress’s son, copulated in the bushes. Soon, Lolita’s curiosity led her to have sex with Charlie as well, and she and Barbara began taking turns with the boy. Lolita says it was fun but expresses contempt for Charlie’s manners and intelligence. Humbert gives Lolita the various presents he bought for her, and they prepare to leave the hotel. He warns Lolita not to talk to strangers. He later notices a man, about his age, staring at Lolita while she reads a movie magazine in an armchair. Humbert thinks the man resembles his Swiss uncle Gustave.

Humbert becomes upset by Lolita’s shifting moods and her seeming disinterest in him, and he worries about how to keep their new arrangement a secret. As they drive off, he tries to uncover what Lolita’s friends know about her sexuality, but Lolita is in a bad mood and irritated by Humbert’s touches. Humbert feels guilty but still desires her, and she remains confused and unhappy. Even as he tries to cheer her up, Lolita says that she was only an innocent girl and that she should tell the police that Humbert raped her. Humbert can’t tell if she’s joking or not. Lolita complains of pain and accuses Humbert of tearing something inside her. Lolita becomes angry and upset and demands to call her mother. Humbert tells her that her mother is dead.

Chapter 33 - Humbert buys Lolita many things in the town of Lepingville. In the hotel, they have separate rooms, and he can hear Lolita crying. Sometime in the night, she creeps into his bed because, as Humbert says, she has nowhere else to go.

Chapter 1 - Humbert and Lolita begin their travels across the United States, and Humbert describes in detail the many typically American motels and hotels they stay in. Describing Lolita as a child driven by whims, Humbert indulges most of her fancies, except when she wants to mingle with other tourists. He occasionally allows her to mix with other girls her own age, but he restricts her access to boys. Humbert realizes that he must secure Lolita’s cooperation in order to continue in this fashion and to keep her from complaining too much. He emphasizes to Lolita that she has no one else but him: if she accuses him of rape, she’ll end up at a state-run reformatory school. Humbert continues to distract her with new destinations and new gifts. Over the course of a year, they travel all over the country, ending up in the northeastern town of Beardsley, Lolita’s birthplace.

Chapter 2 - Humbert states that their tour did not do America justice. Rather, they wandered from tourist spot to tourist spot simply in order to keep Lolita tolerably amused. Lolita is always eager to pick up hitchhikers, and Humbert realizes that their continual sexual activity has given Lolita an air that attracts other men and boys. He tries to prevent her from seeing other boys, but Lolita likes to flirt. Humbert enjoys watching other female children play, but Lolita would rather ride horseback or play tennis. Once, during a match, Humbert believes that he sees a man holding a racket and talking to Lolita. Humbert claims that he tried everything to show Lolita a good time but admits that he was mainly concerned with keeping the affair secret and keeping Lolita happy enough to have sex with him. He states that he is very happy, but Lolita constantly hurts him with her indifference and her desire to meet other people.

Chapter 3 - Humbert attempts to relive his experience with Annabel by taking Lolita to the beach. He fails to re-create the past and consoles himself by having sex with Lolita in beautiful outdoor locations. They make love by the mountains and get caught by a woman and her children, barely managing to escape. Humbert and Lolita see many popular movies, and at one two women catch him fondling Lolita in the movie theater. Once again, Humbert just escapes without incident. Even when they occasionally encounter policemen, Lolita does not reveal their arrangement. Anxious about the legality of the situation, not to mention dwindling funds, Humbert decides to settle in Beardsley and teach at the Beardsley Women’s College, while sending Lolita to the sedate girls’ school. Humbert realizes that despite their wide travels, they have really seen nothing, and he believes their trip has somehow defiled a great country. He also knows that Lolita cries every night, while he pretends to sleep.

Chapter 4 - With the help of Humbert’s acquaintance Gaston Godin, Humbert and Lolita move to 14 Thayer Street, an unimpressive house in Beardsley. Humbert is disappointed in the Beardsley School for Girls, which emphasizes social skills rather than intellectual achievement. The headmistress, Pratt, believes that Beardsley girls must focus on the “four D’s”: Dramatics, Dance, Debating, and Dating. Humbert is appalled, but some teachers reassure him that the girls do some good, solid schoolwork. The Thayer Street house has a view of the school playground, which pleases Humbert, since he believes he will be able to watch Lolita and, he hopes, other nymphets. Unfortunately, builders arrive to make changes and block his view.

Chapter 5 - Humbert describes Beardsley and his neighbors, with whom he is on civil yet distant terms. He constantly worries that they might snoop on his arrangement. Humbert also worries that Lolita might confide in their cook, Mrs. Holigan, and tries to make sure that they are never left alone together.

Chapter 6 - Humbert’s friendship with Gaston Godin, a popular man regarded as a French sophisticate and genius scholar, smoothes his arrival in the new town of Beardsley. Gaston knows all of the small boys in the neighborhood and has portraits of them, as well as famous artists, in his home. Humbert enjoys their occasional chess games but finds Gaston to be a mediocre scholar and somewhat dim-witted.

Chapter 7 - Humbert and Lolita’s relationship has become more strained. Despite her allowance and many small presents, Lolita wants more money, and she starts to demand it before performing sexual favors. Humbert periodically breaks into her room to steal back her savings so she cannot run away from him.

Chapter 8 - Humbert worries about Lolita attracting boys, and he reads the local paper’s teen advice column for instruction. He allows Lolita to interact with some boys in groups, but never alone, a rule that upsets Lolita. Despite his attempt to control every aspect of Lolita’s life, Humbert can’t be sure that she hasn’t stolen away with a boy. However, he has no particular boy to suspect. Humbert imagines how others see him and wonders how he has managed to fool everyone. He still lives in a constant state of anxiety.

Chapter 9 - Humbert finds himself disappointed by Lolita’s friends, few of whom are nymphets. He talks to Lolita’s friend Mona to discover if Lolita has any boyfriends, but Mona, rather than supplying Humbert with details, seems attracted to him instead.

Chapter 10 - In a brief aside, Humbert describes how, sometimes, he would crawl over to Lolita’s desk while she was doing her homework and beg for some affection. Each time, Lolita rebuffs him.

Chapter 11 - One day, Pratt informs Humbert that Lolita isn’t maturing sexually and exhibits disciplinary problems. Pratt’s psychological analysis bothers Humbert, as do the evaluations given by Lolita’s teachers. Pratt ends by asking Humbert if Lolita knows about sex, and she tells him that Lolita should start dating boys and, furthermore, that she should be allowed to take part in the school play. Pratt goes on to say that Lolita has an alarming vocabulary of curse words. After his appointment with Pratt, Humbert goes to see Lolita in the study room, where Lolita and another girl are reading quietly. Sitting beside Lolita, and behind the other girl, Humbert pays Lolita sixty-five cents to masturbate him.

Chapter 12 - After Lolita recovers from an illness, Humbert allows her to throw a small party with boys. The party isn’t a success, and the boys don’t impress Lolita, which is such a relief for Humbert that he buys her a new tennis racket. For her birthday, he buys her a bicycle and a book of modern American paintings, and while he enjoys watching her ride the bike, he remains disappointed by her inability to appreciate fine art.

Chapter 13 - Lolita begins rehearsing for a play entitled The Enchanted Hunters, in which she plays a farmer’s daughter who bewitches a number of hunters. Humbert notes that the play has the same name as the hotel he and Lolita first stayed in, but he doesn’t think much of it. He also doesn’t mention the coincidence to Lolita, for fear that she’ll mock him and his nostalgia. At the time, Humbert assumes the play is nothing more than a trifling work written specifically for schoolchildren. He tells the reader that he now knows the play to be a recent composition, written by a noted playwright. Humbert scoffs at the play’s overt romanticism and fantasy. One day, as Lolita rides her bike, she teasingly asks Humbert if the Enchanted Hunters was, in fact, the name of the hotel where he first raped her.

Chapter 14 - Some days later, Humbert becomes outraged when he gets a call from Lolita’s piano teacher, who tells him that Lolita has been missing her lessons. When confronted, Lolita claims she has been rehearsing for the play in a local park. Lolita’s friend Mona corroborates the story, but Humbert assumes both girls are lying. While Humbert and Lolita discuss the issue heatedly, he realizes that she’s changed and possesses fewer nymphet qualities. Humbert panics and threatens to take her away from Beardsley if she continues lying. Lolita becomes furious, and they have a loud, angry fight in which she accuses him of violating her and murdering her mother. Humbert grabs her by the wrist and attempts to restrain her. Just then, a neighbor calls to complain about the noise, and as Humbert apologizes, Lolita escapes from the house. Humbert drives around looking for her and finally finds her in a telephone booth. Lolita tells Humbert that she hates the school and the play and wants to leave Beardsley, but only if they go where she wants to go. Relieved, Humbert agrees to her demands. At home, Lolita tells Humbert to carry her upstairs, as she’s feeling romantic. Humbert confesses that this brought him to tears.

Chapter 15 - Humbert tells the school that he’s been hired as a consultant for a movie in Hollywood, but promises to return. Excited to be traveling again, Lolita plans out where they’ll go and where they’ll stay. As they’re driving away from the town, Edusa Gold, the acting coach, pulls up alongside them in her car. She says it’s a shame Lolita couldn’t finish the play, since the playwright himself was so taken with her. As Edusa drives off, Humbert asks Lolita who wrote the play. Lolita tells him it was some old woman, “Clare Something.” With that, Humbert and Lolita start their travels.

Chapter 16 - Humbert and Lolita stay in a succession of hotels. Humbert keeps a very close watch on Lolita, to keep her from communicating with anyone he doesn’t know. However, Lolita occasionally manages to disappear, even under Humbert’s watchful eye. She changes her mind often about their destinations, sometimes wanting to stay on for no apparent reason. One day, Humbert goes out but suddenly feels nervous, and he returns to the hotel room to find Lolita completely dressed. Humbert’s suspicions, while still vague, grow stronger.

Chapter 17 - Humbert secretly keeps a gun that belonged to Lolita’s father and stands guard with it at night. He reminds the reader that, in Freudian analysis, a gun represents the father’s phallus.

Chapter 18 - As they continue heading west, Humbert becomes increasingly paranoid. One day, Humbert catches Lolita talking to a strange man, who resembles Humbert’s relative Gustave Trapp. Lolita says she was simply giving him directions and shrugs off Humbert’s suspicions. On the road the next day, Humbert suspects they’re being followed by a red car but manages to evade it. Lolita says she has misread the tour book, and by mistake they find themselves at a theater, watching a play written by Clare Quilty and Vivian Darkbloom. Humbert is suspicious about the play’s authors but cannot see them well in the shadows. When questioned, Lolita states that Vivian is actually a man and Clare is the female author of The Enchanted Hunters. Humbert recalls that Lolita used to have a crush on the celebrity Clare Quilty, but Lolita laughs off the idea.

Chapter 19 - At the post office, Humbert reads a letter to Lolita from Mona, who describes the school production of The Enchanted Hunters. When he finishes the letter, he realizes that Lolita has disappeared. Humbert chases after her, and when he finds her, Lolita says she had seen one of her friends from Beardsley. Humbert interrogates her vigorously, but she does not budge in her story. Humbert tells Lolita that he has written down the license plate number of the car following them, but he discovers that Lolita has erased the number and smacks her for it. Later, Humbert realizes that the man following him—whom he has taken to calling Trapp, after Humbert’s Swiss relative, whom the man resembles—has been switching cars. When Humbert’s car gets a flat tire, Trapp stops not far behind them. Humbert gets out of the car to confront him, but Trapp turns and speeds away while Humbert’s car, with Lolita at the wheel, starts moving. Lolita claims that she was trying to stop the car from rolling away. Humbert begins to keep the gun in his pocket.

Chapter 20 -

Despite believing that Lolita’s acting experience has taught her to be deceitful, Humbert fondly remembers watching her go through her drama exercises. However, that thrill doesn’t compare to the joy he feels while watching Lolita play tennis. Humbert goes on at length, describing how maddeningly attractive Lolita is on the tennis courts. He admits that he finds all kinds of games romantic and magical, including his chess games with Gaston. In the middle of one tennis game, at a hotel in Colorado, Humbert receives an urgent note that the Beardsley School has called. However, Humbert realizes that the school would have no way of getting in touch with him there. From a window in the hotel, Humbert looks back to the tennis court and sees a strange man playing doubles with Lolita. By the time Humbert returns, the man has left and neither Lolita nor the other doubles pair will tell him about the mysterious stranger. Lolita tells him she wants to go swimming.

Chapter 21 - Later, at the pool, Humbert sees a dark-haired man watching Lolita lasciviously. He sees that Lolita can tell the man is watching her, and he watches as Lolita flirts with the man from afar. Humbert recognizes him as Trapp, the man who has been following them, but Trapp disappears before Humbert can confront him. Humbert drinks heavily and starts to wonder if he’s imagining Trapp.

Chapter 22 - Later that night, Lolita claims to be ill. Seeing that she has a high fever, Humbert takes her to the hospital. He stays in a nearby motel, separated from Lolita for the first time in two years. Lolita recovers quickly, and Humbert visits her in the hospital, bringing presents. He sees a letter on Lolita’s bed tray, but the nurse insists that it belongs to her, not Lolita. Later, Humbert himself becomes feverish, but he tells the hospital he’ll pick up Lolita the following day. However, when he arrives at the hospital, the doctors inform him that Lolita has already left with her uncle. Humbert goes into a violent rage but manages to get himself out of the hospital. He vows to kill Lolita’s abductor.

Chapter 23 - Later that night, Lolita claims to be ill. Seeing that she has a high fever, Humbert takes her to the hospital. He stays in a nearby motel, separated from Lolita for the first time in two years. Lolita recovers quickly, and Humbert visits her in the hospital, bringing presents. He sees a letter on Lolita’s bed tray, but the nurse insists that it belongs to her, not Lolita. Later, Humbert himself becomes feverish, but he tells the hospital he’ll pick up Lolita the following day. However, when he arrives at the hospital, the doctors inform him that Lolita has already left with her uncle. Humbert goes into a violent rage but manages to get himself out of the hospital. He vows to kill Lolita’s abductor.

Chapter 24 - Upon returning to Beardsley, Humbert plans to accost an art professor at Beardsley College, who once taught a class at Lolita’s school. As he sits outside the professor’s classroom with the gun in his pocket, Humbert realizes that his suspicions have made him paranoid. Humbert hires a detective, who proves to be useless.

Chapter 25 - Humbert imagines he sees Lolita everywhere and tries rid himself of her possessions. He writes a missing persons ad in verse. Humbert psychoanalyzes his own poem but does not post it.

Chapter 26 - In his loneliness, Humbert begins a relationship with Rita, a woman in her late twenties with a checkered history. Humbert finds her ignorant but comforting, and their relationship lasts for two years. During this time, Humbert gives up his search for Lolita’s abductor and spends his time wandering with Rita, drinking heavily. Nonetheless, he finds himself returning to the old hotels to relive memories of Lolita. He cannot, however, bring himself to go to the Enchanted Hunters hotel. Meanwhile, Rita grows increasingly unstable and becomes convinced that Humbert will leave her.

Chapter 27 - Gradually, Rita and Humbert begin to live apart, though Humbert visits her frequently. During one visit, Humbert discovers that two letters have been forwarded to him. The first is from John Farlow, who remarried after Jean died of cancer. John states that he has handed over the complicated case of the Haze estate to an attorney named Jack Windmuller. The second letter is from Lolita. Addressing Humbert as “Dad,” she writes that she has become Mrs. Richard F. Schiller and is currently pregnant. She writes asking for money but withholds her home address in case Humbert is still angry.

Chapter 28 - After reading the letter, Humbert goes in search of Lolita and her new husband. Taking the gun along with him, Humbert plans to kill Lolita’s husband, whom he assumes is the same man who abducted Lolita from the hospital. Though Lolita didn’t give her specific address, Humbert manages to find the town she lives in, Coalmont. Nervous and agitated, Humbert bathes and dresses in his finest clothes before inquiring after the Schillers.

Chapter 29 - Humbert finally tracks Lolita down to a small, clapboard house on Hunter Road. Lolita has grown taller and wears glasses now, and is hugely pregnant. Though she has matured past the nymphet stage, Humbert realizes he still loves her deeply. Humbert sees Lolita’s husband, Dick, a simple working man, outside in the yard. Lolita tells Humbert that Dick knows nothing about their past sexual relationship. Humbert realizes that Dick didn’t abduct Lolita from the hospital, and Lolita, wanting Humbert’s financial help, confesses that the man who took her was the playwright Clare Quilty.

Lolita describes Quilty as the great love of her life. She tells Humbert that Quilty knew Charlotte and had come to Ramsdale many times to visit his uncle, Ivor Quilty, the dentist. Dick comes inside the house, and Lolita introduces Humbert as her father. Humbert realizes that he bears the man no ill will. When Dick returns outside, Lolita continues her story. After she ran away with Quilty, she lived on his ranch with his friends, all of whom engaged in strange sexual practices. Lolita refused to participate, claiming that she only loved Quilty, and Quilty kicked her out. She found work as a waitress and eventually met Dick. Humbert realizes that he will love Lolita until he dies and begs her to come away with him. Lolita thinks Humbert might give her money if she goes to a motel with him, but Humbert says he’ll give her the money regardless of her answer and hands her four thousand dollars. Lolita is excited by the money but firmly and gently refuses to go away with Humbert, saying she would rather go back to Quilty. Humbert leaves her with the money and drives off, weeping.

Chapter 30 - Humbert departs to find Dr. Ivor Quilty. Attempting to take a shortcut, Humbert’s car gets hopelessly stuck in a muddy ditch. He walks several miles, in the rain, to a farmhouse and waits for someone to pull his car out. Around midnight, he manages to drive on, but exhaustion causes him to stop in a small town, not far from the Enchanted Hunters hotel.

Chapter 31 - Humbert remembers a priest he once knew in Quebec, who would discuss the nature of sin with him at length. He confesses that, despite receiving much spiritual solace from the priest, he himself can never forget the sinful things he inflicted on Lolita. He claims that he will never find peace because, as he puts it, a maniac deprived Dolores Haze of her childhood.

Chapter 32 - Humbert realizes that because he was so consumed by his desire for her, he never really understood the real Lolita. In his narrative, he begins addressing Lolita directly. Humbert recalls a time, back in Beardsley, when Lolita burst into tears after witnessing the ordinary, normal affection between her friend and her friend’s father. Humbert realizes that even her strained relationship with Charlotte was preferable to Lolita’s life with him and that Lolita must miss her mother.

Chapter 33 - Humbert returns to Ramsdale. He visits the old Haze house, now occupied by a new family with a nymphet daughter. Humbert visits Windmuller’s office, then goes to see Dr. Ivor Quilty on the pretext of needing some dental work. From Ivor, Humbert learns that Clare Quilty lives in Pavor Manor, on Grimm Road. With that knowledge, he leaves Dr. Quilty abruptly.

Chapter 34 - Humbert drives past Pavor Manor and imagines what kind of scandalous, reprehensible activities must be taking place inside. He drives back into town, to return the next morning. Through the trees, he sees the screen of a drive-in movie. Humbert can see a man in the film raise a gun before the trees obscure his vision.

Chapter 35 - The next day, Humbert arrives at Pavor Manor with his loaded gun. Humbert enters the huge and extravagantly furnished house and hunts for Quilty. Quilty emerges from a bathroom and appears unmoved by Humbert’s requests that he recall Lolita. While Humbert explains to Quilty why he must die, Quilty tries to distract him with clever wordplay. Quilty lunges for the gun, and the two men wrestle. Humbert regains control of the gun, then reads a poem detailing Quilty’s crimes. Quilty critiques the poem and offers Humbert many bribes, including concubines and erotic pictures. Humbert shoots, and Quilty tries to escape, running through the house. Humbert shoots him many times, but Quilty does not seem to die. Quilty begs for his life, but Humbert finally kills him. Humbert realizes that he does not feel any peace and is surprised to see a group of people sitting in the drawing room downstairs, drinking. Humbert claims he killed Quilty, but no one notices.

Chapter 36 - Humbert then drives off, and, out of sheer rebellion, speeds down the wrong side of the road. He gets arrested after running a red light and driving into a meadow. Humbert realizes that the real tragedy is not that he has lost Lolita, but that Lolita has been robbed of her childhood. From jail, Humbert writes that he opposes capital punishment but would sentence himself to thirty-five years for rape and dismiss the rest of the charges. He addresses the last section to Lolita, telling her to be true to her husband Dick and advising her not to talk to strangers. He also asks her not to mourn Quilty, as he felt that killing Quilty was a public service. He also states that, if given a choice between Quilty and Humbert, Humbert should live, so he might chronicle this story and immortalize Lolita through his art.

Text 1 - Mulvey, Laura. "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema"

In Chapter Four of Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema, Laura Mulvey elaborates on the ways cinematic structures reinforce patriarchal ideologies through the dynamics of the gaze. Mulvey introduces her seminal concepts of the "male gaze" and the dichotomy of "woman as image, man as bearer of the look." She examines how visual pleasure is derived from two primary mechanisms—scopophilia (pleasure in looking) and identification—and how these are embedded within narrative and cinematic techniques to position women as passive objects of male desire.

1 - The Male Gaze and Humbert's Narrative: Mulvey's concept of the male gaze can be directly linked to Humbert Humbert's portrayal of Lolita in Nabokov's novel. Humbert's obsessive descriptions of Lolita align with the cinematic tendency Mulvey critiques, where the woman is framed not as a subject but as an object of visual and erotic pleasure. In Lolita, Humbert’s narrative transforms Lolita into a "nymphet," a fantasy that exists primarily in his gaze rather than as an autonomous character.

This parallels Mulvey’s critique of how women in cinema are often rendered as objects, existing primarily to serve male desire and reinforce patriarchal power structures.

2 - Scopophilia and Lolita as an Object of Desire: Mulvey discusses scopophilia, the pleasure derived from looking, as a fundamental aspect of narrative cinema. Humbert’s fixation on Lolita is a literary analog to this phenomenon. Throughout the novel, he derives intense satisfaction from observing Lolita, turning her into a spectacle within his narrative.

Similar to how cinema manipulates visual framing to eroticize the female form, Humbert’s prose eroticizes Lolita through meticulous, poetic descriptions that reduce her to a collection of parts—her smile, her legs, her movements—further dehumanizing her and denying her subjectivity.

3 - Identification and the Reader's Complicity: In her analysis, Mulvey explains how the audience identifies with the male protagonist, aligning their perspective with his desires. In Lolita, Nabokov masterfully manipulates this dynamic through Humbert’s unreliable narration. Readers are subtly coerced into seeing the world through Humbert’s eyes, sharing his obsessive gaze on Lolita, and grappling with their own complicity in his objectification of her.

This identification mirrors Mulvey’s critique of how cinema invites audiences to adopt the perspective of the male gaze, reinforcing the viewer’s alignment with patriarchal power structures.

4 - Narrative, Power, and the Woman as a Passive Figure: Mulvey highlights how women in cinema are often relegated to passive roles that serve the male protagonist’s journey. Similarly, in Lolita, Lolita is stripped of her agency within Humbert's narrative. She is reduced to a muse or symbol, existing largely as a projection of Humbert's desires and fantasies. This reinforces Mulvey’s assertion that the structure of storytelling often marginalizes women’s voices and perspectives.

5 - Subversion and Resistance: While Mulvey critiques the male gaze, she also calls for the subversion of these norms through alternative forms of storytelling. Nabokov’s Lolita can be seen as engaging with this critique, albeit ambiguously. Although Humbert dominates the narrative, Nabokov includes moments that hint at Lolita’s humanity and suffering, subtly challenging Humbert’s version of events. However, the novel’s artistic structure and linguistic brilliance can also overshadow these subversive elements, perpetuating rather than dismantling the dynamics Mulvey critiques.

Conclusion

Laura Mulvey’s Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema provides a theoretical lens to understand Lolita as a literary exploration of the male gaze. Both works examine how women are objectified and rendered passive through narrative and visual techniques. While Lolita critiques Humbert’s perspective, it also draws attention to the broader cultural structures Mulvey interrogates, inviting readers to reflect on the intersection of power, desire, and storytelling.

Text 2 - Wood, Michael. "Lolita Revisited"

Michael Wood’s essay Lolita Revisited is a nuanced reflection on Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita, exploring its enduring complexity and moral ambiguity. Wood revisits the novel’s themes, narrative strategies, and cultural reception, highlighting how its beauty and darkness intertwine to provoke readers. He addresses the ethical dilemmas posed by the text, Humbert Humbert’s manipulative narration, and the ways in which Nabokov complicates our engagement with the story.

1 - Humbert Humbert's Seductive Narrative Voice: Wood underscores the power of Humbert’s narration, describing how his eloquence and charm seduce the reader into a morally compromising position. This aligns with Nabokov’s intent to blur the boundaries between admiration for Humbert’s linguistic artistry and revulsion at his actions. Wood highlights how this duality forces readers to confront their own susceptibility to manipulation, a central theme of Lolita.

The essay points out that Humbert's narrative is designed not just to tell his story but to control its reception, turning readers into unwitting accomplices. His poetic language and self-pity obscure the reality of his predatory behavior, much as Lolita itself challenges readers to distinguish between artistic brilliance and ethical responsibility.

2 - The Role of Lolita as a Character: Wood critiques the tendency to view Lolita as a passive figure or symbolic representation, emphasizing her humanity and the hints of her perspective within the text. While Humbert’s narrative minimizes Lolita’s agency, Wood reminds us that Nabokov leaves subtle clues about her suffering and individuality, such as her resistance and eventual escape from Humbert’s control.

This perspective resonates with broader discussions about how Lolita portrays power dynamics, complicating its depiction of Lolita as merely an object of Humbert’s obsession.

3 - Art vs. Morality: A central theme of Wood’s essay is the tension between art and morality in Lolita. He explores how Nabokov’s dazzling prose and intricate narrative structure create an aesthetic experience that complicates moral judgment. Wood argues that this tension is precisely what makes the novel so compelling—it resists easy categorization as either a celebration of art or a critique of moral failure.

This mirrors Nabokov’s own insistence that Lolita is not a moral tale but a work of art, inviting readers to grapple with its beauty and ethical discomfort simultaneously.

4 - Cultural Reception and Misinterpretations: Wood addresses how Lolita has been misinterpreted or oversimplified in popular culture, often reduced to a scandalous tale of forbidden love rather than a profound exploration of obsession, exploitation, and artistic manipulation. He critiques adaptations and interpretations that focus on Humbert’s romanticized view while neglecting Lolita’s pain and humanity.

By revisiting these misconceptions, Wood challenges readers to re-engage with the novel on its own terms, recognizing its layered complexity and enduring relevance.

5 - The Reader’s Ethical Dilemma: One of Wood’s key insights is that Lolita places readers in an ethically fraught position. By presenting Humbert’s perspective so persuasively, the novel compels readers to question their own complicity in his narrative. This self-awareness is a crucial part of the novel’s power, forcing readers to confront the uncomfortable interplay between empathy, aesthetic appreciation, and moral judgment.

Conclusion

Michael Wood’s Lolita Revisited highlights the enduring power and complexity of Nabokov’s Lolita, emphasizing its ability to unsettle and provoke. By exploring themes of manipulation, agency, and the tension between art and ethics, Wood invites readers to reflect on the novel’s challenges and rewards. His essay serves as a reminder of Lolita’s relevance as both a masterpiece of literary art and a provocative exploration of human psychology and morality.

Text 3 - Tamir-Ghez, Nomi. "The Art of Persuasion in Nabokov's Lolita"

Nomi Tamir-Ghez's essay The Art of Persuasion in Nabokov's Lolita is a critical exploration of how Vladimir Nabokov's novel Lolita employs rhetorical techniques to manipulate the reader’s sympathies and perceptions of the morally ambiguous protagonist, Humbert Humbert. The essay delves into the intricate interplay between narrative form, unreliable narration, and emotional appeal, illustrating how Nabokov uses Humbert's voice as a tool to transform a taboo subject into an aesthetic and intellectual experience.

1 - Unreliable Narration as Persuasion: Tamir-Ghez argues that Humbert Humbert's narration is

the cornerstone of the novel's persuasive strategy. As an unreliable narrator, Humbert deliberately distorts facts, omits crucial details, and manipulates the timeline of events to elicit sympathy from the reader. His erudite language and wit serve as distractions, steering attention away from his reprehensible actions.

In the novel, this narrative approach creates tension between the reader's moral compass and Humbert's self-justifications. For example, Humbert diminishes the gravity of his abuse by euphemizing and romanticizing his obsession with Lolita, framing it as an uncontrollable, tragic love rather than a criminal act.

2 - Language as a Tool of Manipulation: The essay highlights Nabokov's mastery of language,

which Humbert wields to seduce both Lolita and the reader. Tamir-Ghez emphasizes the lyrical, poetic quality of Humbert's prose, which cloaks the disturbing reality of his actions. The language's beauty contrasts with the subject's ugliness, creating a paradox that complicates the reader's judgment.

For instance, Humbert's descriptions of Lolita are rich with artistic and literary allusions, casting her in the role of a nymphet—a mythical being that, in his narration, seems to justify his desires. This linguistic artistry shifts the reader’s focus from the ethical to the aesthetic.

3 - Reader Complicity and Ethical Ambiguity: Tamir-Ghez explores how the narrative implicates

the reader in Humbert's transgressions. By breaking the fourth wall and directly addressing the audience, Humbert draws the reader into his confidence, making them an accomplice to his rationalizations. This technique challenges readers to confront their own biases and the extent to which they can separate art from morality.

In Lolita, Humbert frequently appeals to the reader’s emotions and intellect, such as when he portrays himself as a victim of Lolita's supposed flirtations or laments his tragic fate. These appeals blur the line between perpetrator and victim, creating a morally disorienting reading experience.

4 - The Role of Aesthetics in Ethical Judgment: A significant theme in Tamir-Ghez's analysis is

the tension between aesthetic appreciation and moral condemnation. Nabokov’s lush prose and Humbert’s charm often distract readers from the ethical horrors underlying the narrative. Tamir-Ghez questions whether the novel's artistic brilliance diminishes the reader’s capacity to critically engage with its moral implications.

The essay posits that this duality is central to Nabokov’s purpose: to force readers to grapple with the discomfort of admiring the art while rejecting the actions it depicts. This mirrors Humbert's own internal conflict as he alternates between self-awareness and self-delusion.

Conclusion

Nomi Tamir-Ghez’s essay underscores the genius of Nabokov’s Lolita in its ability to wield the art of persuasion to destabilize readers' moral certainties. By analyzing Humbert’s manipulative narrative strategies, the essay reveals how the novel transcends its provocative subject matter to become a meditation on the complexities of storytelling, morality, and human psychology. The essay invites readers to confront not only Humbert's culpability but also their own susceptibility to rhetorical seduction.

Text 4 - Merlin Kajman, Hélène. La Littérature à l'Heure de #MeToo

In the introduction to La Littérature à l'Heure de #MeToo, Hélène Merlin-Kajman explores the evolving role of literature in an era shaped by heightened awareness of gender dynamics, power, and consent, as exemplified by the #MeToo movement. She examines how literary works, especially those addressing themes of sexuality and morality, are reinterpreted through the lens of contemporary ethical concerns. Her central argument is that literature exists as a space of ambivalence and complexity—distinct from direct moral judgment—and should continue to provoke critical thought, even in the face of cultural shifts.

1 - Literature as a Space of Ambiguity: Merlin-Kajman argues that literature’s value lies in its

ability to explore ethical gray areas, offering a space for reflection rather than resolution. This perspective directly aligns with Nabokov's Lolita, where the narrative delves into Humbert Humbert's morally reprehensible actions while simultaneously captivating readers through its artistic brilliance and emotional depth.

Like the works Merlin-Kajman discusses, Lolita challenges readers to navigate their discomfort and critically evaluate their responses without providing a clear moral directive.

2 - #MeToo and the Ethics of Representation: The introduction critiques the tendency to view literature solely through the lens of ideological purity, as has become common in the #MeToo era. This resonates with the contentious reception of Lolita, a novel that has faced renewed scrutiny for its portrayal of sexual abuse and manipulation. While Nabokov’s novel does not condone Humbert's actions, its aesthetic approach risks being misread as complicit in the glamorization of predatory behavior.

Merlin-Kajman invites readers to consider whether such works can still serve as tools for understanding the complexities of power and desire, rather than being dismissed outright.

3 - The Reader's Role in Literary Ethics: A significant theme in Merlin-Kajman’s introduction is the relationship between literature and its readers, particularly the ethical responsibilities literature demands. In Lolita, readers are drawn into Humbert's narrative and are forced to confront their complicity in his rhetorical seduction. Similarly, Merlin-Kajman emphasizes that the act of reading requires engaging with discomfort and questioning one’s moral and emotional responses.

4- The Power of Narrative in Shaping Discourse: Merlin-Kajman acknowledges the potential of literature to shape societal discourse, noting how stories can reinforce or disrupt cultural norms. Nabokov’s Lolita exemplifies this dynamic by reframing a story of abuse as an artistic and intellectual exploration. While it can be unsettling in a #MeToo context, Lolita remains a powerful reminder of literature’s ability to confront us with uncomfortable truths about human behavior and society.

Conclusion

In the introduction to La Littérature à l'Heure de #MeToo, Hélène Merlin-Kajman argues for preserving literature’s ability to challenge and provoke, even in an era of heightened sensitivity to issues of power and consent. Nabokov’s Lolita serves as a compelling case study for this argument, embodying the tension between artistic freedom and ethical accountability. By engaging with its complexities, readers can better understand the broader debates Merlin-Kajman raises about literature’s role in a changing world.

Text 5 - Edel-Roy, Agnès. "Le vertige visionnaire de Lolita: #DitdeDolly

Agnès Edel-Roy’s chapter Le vertige visionnaire de Lolita: #DitdeDolly examines Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita through the lens of vision and perspective, focusing on the ways in which visual imagery, perception, and narrative framing shape the novel. Edel-Roy delves into the tension between Humbert Humbert’s obsessive gaze and Lolita’s obscured voice, analyzing how this dynamic creates a “visionary vertigo” that mirrors the novel’s themes of desire, control, and artistic creation.

1 - The Power of Humbert’s Vision: Edel-Roy argues that Lolita is structured around Humbert’s obsessive gaze, which transforms Lolita into an object of desire. This vision, however, is not merely physical but also ideological, as Humbert imposes his fantasies and idealizations onto her. The term "vertige visionnaire" (visionary vertigo) captures the destabilizing effect of Humbert’s perspective, which warps reality and leaves readers struggling to discern truth from illusion.

This aligns with Nabokov’s narrative strategy, where Humbert’s poetic descriptions and romanticized justifications mask the brutality of his actions, creating a disorienting experience for the reader.

2 - The Erasure of Dolly’s Voice: Edel-Roy highlights how Lolita’s true self—Dolores Haze, or "Dolly"—is overshadowed by Humbert’s vision of her as a mythical “nymphet.” The #DitdeDolly (#SaidByDolly) motif in the chapter title suggests a focus on what is left unsaid or silenced by Humbert’s narrative. While the novel includes fleeting glimpses of Lolita’s agency and suffering, they are often drowned out by Humbert’s dominating voice.

This critique underscores a central tension in Lolita: the contrast between Humbert’s elaborate narrative and the absence of Lolita’s authentic perspective.

3 - The Aesthetics of Vision: Edel-Roy explores Nabokov’s use of visual imagery and descriptive detail, emphasizing how these elements contribute to the novel’s allure and its moral ambiguity. Humbert’s narration is filled with painterly and cinematic imagery, transforming Lolita into an artistic creation rather than a real person. This aestheticization of vision amplifies the “vertige” by inviting readers to appreciate the beauty of Humbert’s descriptions while remaining complicit in his objectification of Lolita.

This mirrors Nabokov’s broader exploration of art’s capacity to obscure moral truths, as the novel’s dazzling prose seduces readers into overlooking its darker realities.

4 - Vision and Memory: Edel-Roy discusses how Humbert’s gaze extends into memory, reshaping his recollections of Lolita to fit his fantasies. His narrative is not a straightforward account but a retrospective construction, blurring the boundaries between reality and imagination. This act of remembering—and reimagining—Lolita contributes to the sense of vertigo, as readers are drawn into Humbert’s subjective world while questioning its validity.

In Lolita, this manipulation of memory serves as a means of control, allowing Humbert to maintain dominance over Lolita even after her escape.

5 - Ethical Implications of the Gaze: Edel-Roy examines the ethical dimensions of Humbert’s vision, particularly its dehumanizing effects. By reducing Lolita to a visual and symbolic object, Humbert denies her individuality and agency. This dynamic resonates with broader critiques of patriarchal power structures, where women are often viewed and defined through the lens of male desire.

The chapter calls attention to how Nabokov simultaneously critiques and participates in this dynamic, creating a narrative that both exposes and perpetuates the mechanisms of objectification.

Conclusion

Agnès Edel-Roy’s Le vertige visionnaire de Lolita: #DitdeDolly offers a compelling analysis of the interplay between vision, narrative, and morality in Lolita. By focusing on the tension between Humbert’s gaze and Lolita’s silenced voice, Edel-Roy illuminates the novel’s exploration of power, perception, and artistic creation. Her insights encourage readers to reconsider the ethical and emotional complexities of Nabokov’s masterpiece, particularly its treatment of vision as both a tool of beauty and a weapon of control.

Text 6 - Piterbraut-Merx, Tal. "Oreilles cousues et mémoires mutines: L'inceste et le rapport de pouvoir adulte-enfant."

Tal Piterbraut-Merx’s chapter Oreilles cousues et mémoires mutines explores the dynamics of incest and the power imbalance between adults and children in literary narratives. The essay delves into how these themes are depicted, focusing on the silencing of the child’s voice and the manipulation of memory and power by the adult figure. Through this lens, Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov emerges as a poignant case study, illustrating the intersections of power, silence, and narrative control.

1 - Silencing the Child’s Voice: Piterbraut-Merx discusses how narratives involving incest often suppress the child’s perspective, framing the story through the voice of the adult perpetrator. In Lolita, this is epitomized by Humbert Humbert’s domineering narrative, which denies Lolita (Dolores Haze) her voice and agency. His manipulative storytelling reshapes her experiences into his justification for abuse, rendering her as a passive figure in the narrative.

This dynamic aligns with Piterbraut-Merx’s argument that the power imbalance between adult and child extends beyond physical control to the realm of storytelling and memory.

2 - The Power of Memory and Retrospective Control: A central theme in the chapter is the role of memory in maintaining the adult’s dominance over the child. Piterbraut-Merx highlights how adult narrators retrospectively construct and manipulate memories, using them to rationalize their actions and maintain control. In Lolita, Humbert's recollections of his past encounters with Lolita are colored by his fantasies, creating a narrative that distorts reality and silences Lolita’s lived experiences.

This retrospective manipulation is central to Humbert’s ability to frame himself as a tragic lover rather than an abuser, a tactic that echoes the broader dynamics Piterbraut-Merx identifies in incest narratives.

3 - The Child as a Site of Rebellion: Despite the adult’s attempts to control the narrative, Piterbraut-Merx suggests that the child figure often embodies resistance, even in silence. In Lolita, this resistance is subtly present in Lolita’s actions and choices, such as her eventual escape and attempts to build a life beyond Humbert’s control. While her voice is largely absent, her rebellion is inscribed in the gaps and contradictions of Humbert’s narrative, revealing the limits of his control.

4 - Adult-Child Power Dynamics in Literature: The chapter explores how incest narratives often reflect broader societal power structures, where the adult’s authority is naturalized, and the child’s agency is erased. Lolita exemplifies this through Humbert’s self-appointed role as the arbiter of Lolita’s identity, framing her as a “nymphet” to justify his actions. This construction reinforces the societal tendency to blame or objectify the child while absolving the adult of full responsibility.

5 - Ethical Challenges of Representation: Piterbraut-Merx raises questions about the ethical implications of representing incest and abuse in literature. In Lolita, Nabokov’s decision to present the story through Humbert’s perspective complicates the reader’s engagement, forcing them to confront their complicity in Humbert’s narrative while grappling with the silenced voice of Lolita. The essay aligns this dynamic with broader challenges of depicting power imbalances without perpetuating them.

Conclusion

Tal Piterbraut-Merx’s Oreilles cousues et mémoires mutines sheds light on the mechanisms of power, memory, and silence in narratives of incest, offering valuable insights into Lolita. The novel exemplifies the dynamics Piterbraut-Merx critiques, with Humbert’s narrative silencing Lolita and distorting her reality. Yet, Nabokov’s text also invites readers to question these power structures, illuminating the resilience of the child’s presence within the gaps and fissures of the adult’s narrative control.

Text 7 - Boyd, Brian. "Lolita"

In the eleventh chapter of Brian Boyd’s critical study on Lolita, Boyd delves into the intricate narrative, thematic, and stylistic elements of Vladimir Nabokov’s novel, offering insights into its artistic brilliance and moral provocations. Boyd emphasizes how Nabokov uses Lolita to explore the interplay between beauty and ethics, language and manipulation, and power and vulnerability, positioning the novel as both a masterpiece of literary art and a provocative moral puzzle.

1 - Narrative Mastery and Humbert’s Manipulation: Boyd highlights Humbert Humbert’s narrative control as one of Nabokov’s most sophisticated techniques. Humbert’s unreliable narration—marked by wit, charm, and poetic eloquence—both entices and repels the reader. Boyd argues that Nabokov uses this duality to force readers into an ethically uncomfortable position, mirroring Humbert’s manipulation of Lolita herself.

In Lolita, this manipulation is most evident in Humbert’s self-justifications and his framing of Lolita as a mythical “nymphet,” a term he invents to rationalize his obsession. Boyd explores how this narrative strategy compels readers to question their own complicity in Humbert’s perspective.

2 - Aesthetic Sublimation of Darkness: Boyd discusses how Nabokov transforms a morally abhorrent story into an artistic triumph through his use of language and structure. He argues that the beauty of Nabokov’s prose—its lush descriptions, intricate wordplay, and literary allusions—serves as both a distraction and a tool for deeper engagement with the novel’s dark themes.

In Lolita, this aesthetic sublimation parallels Humbert’s romanticization of his relationship with Lolita, creating a tension between the reader’s aesthetic pleasure and moral judgment.

3 - The Tragic Complexity of Lolita: Boyd addresses the often-overlooked complexity of Lolita as a character, emphasizing that she is more than just an object of Humbert’s desire or a victim of his control. While Humbert’s narrative seeks to erase her agency, Nabokov inserts subtle clues about her personality, resistance, and suffering. Boyd notes how moments such as Lolita’s attempts to escape or her interactions with Clare Quilty reveal her as a human being struggling to assert herself against overwhelming odds.

This aligns with Boyd’s broader interpretation of Lolita as a novel that critiques Humbert’s perspective even as it inhabits it, offering readers glimpses of Lolita’s silenced voice.

4 - The Ethical Challenge to the Reader: A central theme in Boyd’s analysis is the ethical challenge Nabokov poses to the reader. By seducing readers with Humbert’s eloquence, Nabokov mirrors the dynamics of abuse and control depicted in the novel, implicating readers in Humbert’s perspective. Boyd suggests that this challenge is a deliberate provocation, designed to make readers confront their own capacity for moral compromise in the face of artistic beauty.

5 - The Role of Art and Morality: Boyd concludes by reflecting on Nabokov’s broader exploration of the relationship between art and morality. While Lolita resists simplistic moralizing, Boyd argues that its moral vision lies in its refusal to absolve Humbert or excuse his actions, despite the seductive power of his narrative. The novel’s beauty, rather than neutralizing its darkness, amplifies the ethical stakes by forcing readers to reconcile the two.

Conclusion

Chapter Eleven of Brian Boyd’s Lolita highlights the novel’s intricate interplay of narrative brilliance, moral ambiguity, and artistic innovation. Boyd situates Lolita as a work that challenges readers to grapple with the uncomfortable coexistence of beauty and evil, foregrounding the complexities of power, voice, and ethics. Nabokov’s masterpiece emerges as both a celebration of artistic achievement and a profound meditation on the dangers of manipulation and the erasure of agency.

Text 8 - Dussy, Dorothée. "Les hommes incesteurs"

Dorothée Dussy’s Les hommes incesteurs examines the phenomenon of incest, focusing on the perpetrators and the systemic structures that enable their actions. She explores how these men manipulate societal, familial, and personal dynamics to maintain power and control over their victims, often using rhetoric and narrative to justify or obscure their actions. The chapter critically dissects the mechanisms of abuse and highlights how societal complicity and silence contribute to the perpetuation of incestuous dynamics.

1 - The Rhetoric of Justification: Dussy highlights how incestuous men craft narratives to rationalize their actions, reframing their abuse as acts of love or inevitability. In Lolita, Humbert Humbert embodies this dynamic through his eloquent yet manipulative narration. He positions himself as a tragic lover ensnared by fate, coining terms like “nymphet” to romanticize and justify his obsession with Lolita.

Like the men Dussy examines, Humbert uses language not just to excuse his actions but to reshape reality, making it difficult for others (and readers) to confront the truth of his abuse.

2 - Power and Control Dynamics: Dussy explores how incestuous men maintain dominance over their victims through a combination of psychological manipulation, coercion, and physical control. Similarly, in Lolita, Humbert exerts power over Dolores Haze (Lolita) by isolating her, controlling her movements, and leveraging her dependence on him. His narrative erases her autonomy, framing her as complicit in or even responsible for their relationship.

This dynamic underscores the parallels between Dussy’s analysis and Nabokov’s depiction of Humbert as a predator who disguises his exploitation as affection.

3 - Societal Complicity and Silence: Dussy emphasizes how societal structures often enable incestuous behavior by ignoring or minimizing the voices of victims. In Lolita, the absence of voices that could challenge Humbert—whether from Lolita, her mother, or society at large—mirrors this complicity. Nabokov subtly critiques this silence, revealing the broader failure of social systems to protect vulnerable individuals from abuse.

4 - The Silencing of the Victim: A key theme in Dussy’s work is the systematic silencing of incest victims, who are often disbelieved, blamed, or erased from the narrative. In Lolita, Lolita’s voice is largely absent, overshadowed by Humbert’s dominating perspective. Her pain and resistance are relegated to the margins of his narrative, reflecting the real-world dynamics Dussy identifies, where victims are denied the opportunity to tell their own stories.

Nabokov uses this absence to provoke readers, compelling them to read between the lines and acknowledge Lolita’s suffering despite Humbert’s attempts to obscure it.

5 - The Intersection of Desire and Violence: Dussy examines how incestuous men often conflate their desires with acts of love, masking the inherent violence of their actions. In Lolita, Humbert continually frames his exploitation of Lolita as an expression of pure, uncontainable passion, blurring the line between desire and harm. His narrative aestheticizes and intellectualizes his abuse, much like the men Dussy critiques, who distort the perception of their actions to avoid accountability.

Conclusion

Dorothée Dussy’s Les hommes incesteurs offers a critical framework for understanding the dynamics of abuse, power, and narrative manipulation, which resonates deeply with Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita. Humbert Humbert exemplifies the mechanisms Dussy describes, using language, power, and societal complicity to exploit and silence his victim. Nabokov’s novel thus becomes a literary exploration of the very structures Dussy interrogates, inviting readers to confront the complexities of abuse and the narratives that enable it.