How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Book.Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
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. (1.1.1)
Everything about Lolita fills Humbert with pleasure, even the feeling of saying her name. There is no single part of her that he does not turn into a fetish object.
Quote #2
You can always count on a murderer for a fancy prose style. (1.1.3)
Humbert loves to make striking statements. Not only does he confess a crime early in the novel, but he also draws attention to the quality of his own writing.
Quote #3
Let me remind you my reader that in England […] the term "girl-child" is defined as "a girl who is over eight but under fourteen. (1.5.9)
Humbert pays close attention to definitions. He is also eager to sway his readers, whom he often addresses as his "jury."
Quote #4
Quine the Swine. Guilty of killing Quilty. Oh, my Lolita, I have only words to play with! (1.8.4)
Beware of anyone who has this much fun with words. Could be actually be telling us how to read his own book?
Quote #5
Humbert Humbert is also infinitely moved by the little one's slangy speech. (1.11.5)
Humbert is charmed by Lolita's misuse of the language. Part of her charm is her typical American adolescent way of talking.
Quote #6
But I am no poet. I am only a very conscientious recorder. (1.17.7)
Do we believe either of Humbert's claims? Watch for contradictions to this claim of straightforward reporting.
Quote #7
Let us, however, forget, Dolores Haze, so-called legal terminology, terminology that accepts as rational the term "lewd and lascivious cohabitation." I am not a criminal sexual psychopath taking indecent liberties with a child [. . .] I am your daddum. (2.1. 11)
Humbert spends a lot of time rationalizing his behavior. Somehow, if he can convince Lolita and the reader, perhaps he can also convince himself.
Quote #8
At the very first motel office I visited, Ponderosa Lodge, his entry, among a dozen obviously human ones, read: Dr. Gratiano Forbeson, Mirandola, NY. Its Italian Comedy connotations could not fail to strike me, of course. (2.23.4)
Humbert had found in Clare Quilty a worthy rival. They are both lovers of language and of Lolita.