2. John Ray Jr. seeks to set up and explain Lolita and its contents in some way. Humbert, in the first chapter, continues these explanations and justifications. How does this preamble affect the way we understand the book (and the book to come)?
3. Take note of Ray's rundown of the fate of various characters whom the reader has not yet encountered ("For the benefit of old-fashioned readers..."). What's the apparent purpose of this American Graffiti-style postscript, included in the beginning of the book? How, again, does it affect the "reality" of the book?
4. VN's advice to the literary critic is (SO 66) "learn to distinguish banality." And yet Nabokov seems to include aspects of the trite or the banal in his work. Comment on this uneasy balance between originality and banality in the first chapter.
5. While both The Enchanter and Lolita (including the Foreword) have their psychological clues, we know that VN despised Freud, even saying, "The Freudian faith leads to dangerous ethical consequences, such as when a filthy murderer with the brain of a tapeworm is given a lighter sentence because his mother spanked him..." (SO 116). Since he feels this way, how shall we interpret the "precursors" of Lolita and Cordelia?
6. Again from Strong Opinions: "I loathe popular pulp, I loathe go-go gangs, i loathe jungle music, I loathe science fiction with its gals and goons, suspense and suspensories. I especially loathe vulgar movies--cripples raping nuns under tables, or naked-girl breasts squeezing against the tanned torsos of repulsive young males" (SO 117). And yet, his works have unmistakable erotic overtones and even sensational elements; they even make frequent reference to the vulgar world of movies. Why the contradiction?
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