Post due Wed. 9/25: meeting Lolita and Ramsdale

NOTE: although we are going more slowly, you should keep reading according to the syllabus schedule. After the book, critical articles are assigned. You should soon settle on a theme or motif to explore in your posts. Answer some, all... or use one or more as a jumping-off place for your post.

1. Humbert's arctic expedition seems surprising and off-key. What does it indicate about his character? It is followed by a "bout with insanity." How are we to understand this - what do you suppose really happens?
2. Comment on both Humbert's choice of Ramsdale - what are his reasons for wanting a sleepy New England town? - and Nabokov's choice of this location for Charlotte Haze and her daughter?
3. The portrait of Charlotte is connected to a portrait of middle class America in the '50s. What are key elements and passages that comprise this portrait?
4. On a connected note, we know that both Nabokov and Humbert despise "vulgarity." (Vulgar literally means "common" - e.g. the Vulgate was the version of the Bible translated into spoken language from the ancient language.) We have already seen that Humbert describes Valeria as a "baba" - a vulgar, common woman. What does he consider vulgar? And how does his distaste for vulgarity relate to his essential identity and purposes?
5. Comment on Humbert's first sight of Lolita, particularly in relation to the the theme of the recovery of lost time?
5. Chapter 11 begins a journal entry from a small pocket diary: how does the use of this diary - which H.H. does not possess in jail - change the speed, texture, character of the story? Examine descriptions of Humbert's near-sex-encounters with Lolita. How does the style affect our experience of these illicit goings-on?