Nabokov Part 1 recap
Jean- Jacques Humbert—in Nabokov’s Foucauldian universe—cannot relinquish his desire for his dear Annabel; obsessed over the image of his first love, Humbert falls out of an unsuccessful marriage and ultimately lands in 342 Lawn street, Ramsdale. Here, he resurrects the image of his lost love through Dolores Haze—daughter of a single mother, twelve years of age, “nymphet.” He pursuits her with the acumen of an adept pedophile—“…I would possess the means of putting two creatures to sleep so thoroughly that neither sound nor touch should rouse them (99)—but commits folly on behalf of his uncontrollable lust—“…for there was, I swear, a yellowish-violet bruise on her lovely nymphet thigh which my huge hairy hand massaged and slowly enveloped…” Throughout the first segment of Lolita, Humbert pleads his case to the reader and to the jury. His fancy rhetoric and eloquence in speech almost lure us in, but his actions negate the effects of his persuasions—he is simply a hypocrite (For example, Exhibit A: “…I intended, with the most fervent force and foresight, to protect the purity of that fourteen year old child.” And Exhibit B: “This was a lone child, an absolute waif, with whom a heavy-limbed, foul-smelling adult had strenuous intercourse three times that very morning.”) The entire segment is solipsistic in it’s unfolding, because it is told from the perception of a man who lives inside his head. He justifies his sexual jaunts—the young prostitute named Monique to the daughter of his landlady, Lolita—with the idea that his victim (whether voluntarily acquiescent to his sexual advances or not) were deliberately tempting him into sexual contact—“I am going to tell you something strange: it was she who seduced me (140).”
An example of the shift of authority on sexual matters to the institutions of science and medicine from the church is presented in Lolita’s foreword. John Ray, Jr. writes, “…for in this poignant personal study there lurks a general lesson; the wayward child, the egotistic mother, the panting maniac—these are not only vivid characters in a unique story; they warn us of dangerous trends; they point out potent evils. ‘Lolita’ should all of us—parents, social workers, educators—apply ourselves with still greater vigilance and vision to the task of bringing up a better generation in a safer world.” The three social maladies Ray mentions are similar to the four “anchorage points for the ventures of knowledge” mentioned by Foucault—which are “the hysterical woman,” “the masturbating child,” “the Malthusian couple,” and “the perverse adult.” Then there is an example of political oppression on sexuality on page 19: “…with the passage of the children and young person act in 1933, the term ‘girl-child’ is defined…”
