Some word's I never knew before this book

1. Waxwing-It's genus name is Bombycilla. (My bird knowledge is very limited) The common name waxwing is because of the tips to some of the wing feathers and in the Bohemian and Cedar Waxwings, these tips look like sealing wax, and that's where they get their common name. (http://www.wikipedia.com/)

2. Torquated- Having or wearing a torque, or neck chain.(www.dictionary.com)

3. Stillicide- A continual falling or succession of drops; rain water falling from the eaves.(www.dictionary.com)

4. Solarium- A glass-enclosed room, porch, or the like, exposed to the sun's rays, as at a seaside hotel or for convalescents in a hospital.

5. Iridule- It is single i.e. not a double rainbow, like the "Twinned Iris" of the previous line, fairly rarely seen and most attractive.(www.wordie.org) It was quoted from Nabokov's wife as the definition.

6. Lemniscate- A plane curvegenerated by the locus of the pointat which a variable tangent to a rectangular hyperbola insect a perpendicular from the center to the tangent.(www.dictionary.com)

7. Seraph- One of the celestial beings hovering above God's throne in Isaiah's vision.

Pale, Fire WOW

So i finished Pale, Fire. This has been one of the strangest, unique, interesting as well as difficult books I've ever had the opportunity to read. I found myself reading some parts as fast as I could. Not to get through it, but I think it was a mix of wanting to know what was going to happen next as well as feeling the passion of the character before i even realized it. I have a new found respect for Nabokov and his ability to create some pretty weird people. I am also learning more about the fact that he puts continual themes in his stories. I have noticed the themes of butterfly, a dislike of Freud, "reality" in several contexts, and the importance of memory. The one i literally grinned at was the Lolita reference. As we all know, Nabokov wrote a smaller version of Lolita before the novel, but I like the hint in Pale, Fire to the novel that would follow. I admit, I don't always notice the references to previous historical literature, but I'm working on it. I was very blow away by this book and was very thankful i understood most of it.

Tawnia Wilson (Eastman)
LIT 431
10-12-09





The two words I am going to write about are Enchanted Hunters, which is the first

hotel Humbert and Lolita ever stayed in. I find this to be both an ironic and disturbing

because Humbert seems to see himself in this role in his pursuit of his desires. In reality,

there was nothing enchanted about Humbert”s hunt for the perfect moment to take Lolita

as his forever. He tried to make it seem as if his relationship with Lolita was enchanted

but he hunted her like prey through manipulation, bribery, drugs, and lies. He wanted her

and could not take the chance that she wouldn’t feel the same in return. In an ironic twist,

not until it was too late did he realize he was the hunter becoming the hunted by Quilty.

They both did everything they could to get Lolita and Quilty proved to be the better

hunter in the end by taking her out from under Humbert.

The words used to introduce the hotel to the story, as well as the circumstances

Humbert and Lolita find themselves in when coming to it have a very negative feeling,

which hunting can correlate with, as well as words related to enchantment. These serve as

pre-cursors of bad things to come. “We did not see any traffic light-in fact, The Park was

as black as the sins it concealed-but soon after falling under the smooth spell of a nicely

graded skill.”(117) The word sin is an excellent hint of Humbert’s intent and possibly

what subconsciously he as well as the readers might think of the act being fulfilled. The

word spell shows what he wants to cover up the reality of his choices. He wants to

enchant us with a spell in hopes to justify that what he is doing is not that bad.

Further down the page, more negative and mystical words come up. “A row of parked

cars, like pigs at a trough, seemed at first sight to forbid access: but then by magic, a

formidable convertible… came into motion.”(117) The words “pigs at a trough”

symbolizes the fact that they are at a dirty place to do considerably dirty things. It seems

to me as if Humbert’s subconscious is coming through when he brings up these kinds of

words. He knows deep down that what he is doing is bad, but he can’t help himself.

When he uses words that are similar to enchanted they are meant to serve as a hopeful

smokescreen to cover up the reality of his filthy intent. In his mind, if what he is doing is

enchanted, magical, and spellbinding, then there isn’t anything wrong with it.

Quilty, Humbert’s doppelganger, is quite the manipulative hunter himself. His play

that Lolita is in has virtually the same name as the hotel itself. The play’s name serves as a

reminder of the hotel and a way of Quilty saying, “I know what you did.” Much like the

character she plays, Lolita is an enchanter that hypnotizes both Humbert and Quilty. They

both want the same thing out of their enchanted prey, but with slightly different

approaches and intent. Humbert is hoping to find what he had with the Annabel of his

youth, regardless of his own age. Quilty’s intent is more obviously vulgar while Humbert

keeps the illusion that Lolita is an enchanting fantasy.

In conclusion, the words enchanted hunters take on a life of their own in the story.

They are two words that interpret a lot of what Lolita is about. They represent what

Lolita, Humbert, and Quilty’s intersecting fates are all about. As much as Humbert would

like to justify his actions as fanciful and magical, the fact is he is just like Quilty in his hunt

to satisfy his urges within a smaller, weaker prey.

Pale, Fire

This is one of the most confusing, interesting, intriguing books I have read. There are several things that annoy me about Kinbote I will break it down to the top six as best as i can.

1. He has attention deficit disorder big time. One minute it's Zembla, the next John and Sybil, while also himself, and maybe just maybe a little description about the poem. He is all over the place in his tellings.

2.I'm not sure the exact word, but basically i get a loser, pathetic, either clueless or in major denial vibe from him. His descriptions about interactions with John and Sybil as well as others, he seems totally oblivious that people seem to think he's nuts, bothersome, etc. But with Nabokov it's hard to determine if it's actual cluelessness or denial of lunacy.

3. wich leads me to my next point. In class I remember us talking about something to the affect of not trusting Nabokov. I don't trust him or Kimbote at all. Kimbote seriously kooky(reminds me of Humbert in ways) When he supposedly copies down parts of poem that were in the margins and scratched out and so on, I can't help but get the feeling that he wrote it. He makes me very suspicious and i don't really believe much of what he's saying.

4.His disrespect of Hazel's death is very disturbing. If he was just a normal healthy fan of Shade, he would have respect for anything or anyone Shade cared about, particularily a dead loved one.

5. The narcissism is crazy big. When i read the poem, I felt warm, sad, that i could relate in some ways, connected. Reading Kimbote's "commentary" is very annoying how he realtes everything to him and his Zembla when the poem doesn't feel in any way connected to him when reading it. Being so insanely full of himself is a bit sad and desperate feeling.

6. Spying on Shade so obsessively is very scary. Constantly looking to see if his light is on, the detailed descriptions of peeping through his windows and his distaste of anyone else connected to Shade. Nowadays, these kind of things are usually pretexts to psycho serial killers. Freaky stuff

definitions of big words

I thought it might be helpful to write out a few definitions of some big words i know i was unfamiliar with and I have a feeling others are as well.

Speak, Memory. p258-inanition-to be exhausted or lethargic, sometimes from starvation

inauspicious-unfavorable, ill-omened

diaphanous-very sheer or light, translucent


A part in speak, memory was very relatable to me and my frustrations with trying to read and fully understand Nabokov's work. Page 221 "It did not occur to me that far from a veil, those poor words were so opaque that, in fact, they formed a wall." I don't know if it's my lack of patience or lack of comprehension but when the writing gets to specific or to far off into left field, my mind starts to wonder because i don't understand what's happening, but I'm trying though. i feel a dull wall of ache on the inside of my forehead that makes it hard for me to focus.

PALE FIRE

I am complete Nobokov novice and am not used to the styles of the books. But while Speak, Memory and Lolita are both great, they are a challenge to read for me. I think I like Pale Fire the best so far. Still several exciting and unfamiliar words, but I don't know if it's the flow of the poem or what, I find it to be quite beautiful. It is eloquent and the words that are chosen to describe the parts of his (Shade's) life and experiences makes my heart warm and my brain curious as to what will be said next. I do have to read some parts a few times, but that's alright. With what he wrote about his wife and daughter and being a family was very touching.
I noticed a Lolita and Freudian reference. Getting better at noticing similar things in each of the books.:)