Comments on: Word fun in Nabokov’s Lolita

By: Alison

Alison — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 03:08:23 +0000

My favorite bit of wordplay of all time is “Then…[I] boldly imagined how eventually I might blackmail- no, that is too strong a word-mauvemail big Haze into letting me consort with little Haze…” Clever use of colors!

By: Jake

Jake — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 15:37:25 +0000

I just purchased the book and noticed some spelling errors. I wonder if those were Nabokov’s own errors or the publishers.

By: Jake

Jake — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 15:34:52 +0000

Two of my favorite lines are:

“Children welcome, pets allowed” (You are welcome, you are allowed)

and

For some reason, I kept seeing–it trembled and silkily glowed
on my damp retina–a radiant child of twelve, sitting on a threshold,
“pinging” pebbles at an empty can.

By: Yusra

Yusra — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 11:42:42 +0000

One of my favourites was, from when they’re on their first tour of America, something about the entry fee to some ride or museum or something: “Children under 12 free and Lolita a little prisoner.”

By: Sheila

Sheila — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 00:28:37 +0000

I enjoyed the section in which he describes some of Lo’s magazines:

“Ads and fads. Invite Romance by wearing the Exciting New Tummy Flattener. Trims tums, nips hips. Tristram in Movielove. Yessir! The Joe-Roe marital enigma is making yaps flap.
Comics. Bad girl dark hair fat father cigar; good girl red hair handsome daddums clipped mustache.”

I just thought the rhyming and general lingo overall was exciting.

Yep my comment is super late but oh well.

By: J.T. Oldfield

J.T. Oldfield — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 22:26:00 +0000

When Barbara Kingsolver wrote the Poinsonwood Bible she had a lot of fun thinking up all of the palindromes. Though she says it is hell for people translating it into other languages.

By: Liz

Liz — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 22:04:00 +0000

I just finished reading the annotated Lolita. It’s chock full of explanatiions for all the wordplay, and considering it was about my fourth or fifth time reading the novel, I found there was a lot I’d missed.

As for languages…there’s also a few German words here and there in the book, to add to the multi-lingual merit.

By: kevin

kevin — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 21:19:00 +0000

i’m only commenting because of my captcha: honcho 1545… ?!?!?!?!

By: gus

gus — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 21:16:00 +0000

I have found many of the books I read in High School have lost something as I age. The most notable exception is “A Separate Peace”.

By: Michelle

Michelle — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 19:51:00 +0000

I thought this was the most obvious Poe reference, but it is my favorite of his poems. H.H.’s first love is Annabelle Lee and he quotes that poem on several occasions. I loved Lolita when I read it in high school, but read it again recently and its a little perfume-y for my tastes. Ah well, he’s still a genius.