My uncle has this saying, "It is better to read one book one hundred times than to read one hundred books." He claims its an old chinesse proverb. I decided to take his advice and read one of my favorite books, Lolita by Vladamir Nabokov, for a second time.
There are aspects of the narrative and writing style that I have taken notice to. For starters I find it curious that Nabokov spends so much time referencing social science within the first several chaptors of the novel. There is a mention of an ethnological study involving Humbert's (the narrator's) ex-wife and new husband. The study consisted of an experiment involving humans of various ethnic groups, crawling on all fours while subsisting on a diet of banannas, dates and water (30 Nabokov). Humbert also mentions working on a mysterious expedition to Artic Canada as a "recorder of psychic reactions" (33). From these experiences Humbert admits that he "concocted a perfectly spurious and very racy report" which was published in a psychology journal. That admission alone leads the reader to believe that Humbert is an unreliable narrator.
Another aspect of the writing that I have taken notice to are the long sentences. As a writer myself, I tend to like short brief sentences that get the point across without too many adverbs, adjectives, pronouns and other distracting language. I find that my writing is much stronger when I make my sentences as direct and clear as possible. Nabokov on the other hand loves to drag out sentences. This works very well in Lolita, it is more a characteristic trait of Humbert's than anything else. I have to admit that at times I felt a little impatient with the language. Some sentences are so long and so packed with information that I have to read them over again because I can't remember what was written at the beginning. Here's an example, "In the course of the sun-shot moment that my glance slithered over the kneeling child (her eyes blinking over those stern dark spectacles -the little Herr Doktor who was to cure me of all my aches) while I passed by her in my adult disguise (a great big handsome hunk of movieland manhood), the vacuum of my soul managed to suck in every detail of her bright beauty, and these I checked against the features of my dead bride" (39). It's a beautiful passage and works well but its way too long for my taste. I'm just not a talented enough writer to pull of such a long sentence I suppose.
Another thing that I want to point out is Nabokov's use of alliteration. Alliteration is the repeated use of words that start with the same letter. Nabokov is a master of this and it shows up often in the novel. The opening passage of Lolita is a great example of how well he uses this literary device. The first sentence alone is one of the most famous lines in the literary canon. He writes, "Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta" (9). The use of alliteration is abundant. Lolita, light, life, loins, all begin with an L and are all in the first sentence (which only consists of eight words, one of the shortest in the novel). Sin and soul make up the next sentence. Then we have tip, tongue, taking, trip, three (used twice), tap, teeth, all in the third sentence.
Lolita is by far one of the best novels I have ever read. Who better to read and learn by example from?
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