September 16, 2013

The fraudulent foreword and the opening chapters of the novel (memoir) are the legend on the map of this “reality.”  John Ray, Jr., Ph.D. is clearly Nabokov (even without reading his note at the end); the purpose of this foreword would seem to be then, a device for culling authenticity– the man is a Ph.D., mind you.  This book, like several of Daniel Defoe’s works- e.g. Robinson Crusoe (alluded to in The Enchanter) and Roxana (also in several of Borges' stories do we find invented scholars expound on esoteric, erudite subjects e.g. "Three Versions of Judas")  attempts to render what is, in “reality,” fiction, as “reality:” which is, oddly (or perhaps not), almost tautological.

The naturalistic endeavor, blended with Nabokov’s quite literary style– which is seemingly clumsily accounted for by Humbert’s literary education– causes some tension within the reader.  Normally, generally, one suspends disbelief in order to read and immerse oneself in the unreal real world of a text, but with Lolita, we stop short of this suspension and are asked, by the author ( Nabokov/Humbert), to believe in the (obvious?) fiction.