The Sanctuary Which is Not
The truth is in the details. Whence did Humbert Humbert’s strange and unceasing desire for nymphets arise?
Small text on the cover of a japanese book of photographs of school girls.
Reading the first part of Lolita, I found myself frequently looking back to pick up details I had missed. Despite the depth of information about Humbert’s fascination, many other things (like the physical setting and other mundane details) are left vague. Whereas a story is typically developed in a concrete setting, Nabokov weaves his narrative within the setting of Humbert Humbert’s thoughts alone. The reader ends up getting enough information about Humbert and big Haze’s lives that we have an idea of their worldly situation, but these details are presented as holding little significance. The slight tilt of Lo’s head, the nightly yearning that rankles Humbert, a dream about riding a horse that isn’t there; these are the details that seem to hold power.
Lolita reads like a mystery novel. Clues to the elusive deep-seated secret are presented side by side with empty leads. Will a dream provide insight in the origin of Humbert’s obsession? Like in psychoanalysis, Humbert reveals all, as any omission might mean losing the key to the truth about himself. Foucault ephasizes the power of the analyst as the interpretor of the patient’s psyche. Humbert declares himself the analyst and claims the power that comes with it.
“When I try to analyze my own cravings, motives, actions, and so forth, I surrender to a sort of retrospective imagination which feeds the analytic faculty with boundless alternatives and which causes each visualized route to fork and re-fork without end in the maddeningly complex prospect of my past” (Nabokov 13).
Presented as an account, Humbert’s tale of obsession may be more of a construction than anything else. From the depth of his past, he summons forth memories which he uses to create a story about yearning. From what we know about Humbert’s life, he seems like a bit of a wanderer. Aside from nymphets, he makes compromises constantly and does not appear to have any sort of driving purpose. His diary was not intended to be private. It is an act of creation through, using his own words, retrospective imagination. If Humbert couldn’t find meaning in his life, he has now created it. Delving into his history, he convinces himself that Anabbel must have been the root of his obsession with young girls. By establishing the roots of his desire in his past, he is able to create more than a story. He creates an identity and role for himself.
The goal of analysis (ostensibly) is to tease out enough truth and self-knowledge for the patient to gain the perspective necessary to solve the issues that he struggles with. The process going on in Lolita seems completely different. Humbert’s goal may be more along the lines of Foucault’s confession. It is a positive process, as he does not reduce any complexity, but rather builds it and shapes it for his own purposes. Through the magnification and intensification of his pleasures, he creates his own power. Humbert’s obsession with nymphets gives him something to say. Something that will make people listen to him. Not making any attempt to resist his thoughts about Lola, he intead feeds the fire of his passion and begs it to consume him.
Tags: Desire, Lolita, Nabokov, Nymphets, Yearning, Young Girls
