Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Nabokov and Dodgson.


Nabokov and Dodgson. Vladimir Sirin and Lewis Carroll. Lolita and Wonderland? Or is it: Humbert and Carroll?

Nabokov said, "I always call him Lewis Carroll Carroll because he was the first Humbert Humbert." (p. 381 in annotations)

Nabokov obviously makes countless references to other writers and their works, Poe being one of the most dominating. But have you noticed all of the similarities, or allusions to Alice in Wonderland, or Carroll? This interested greatly as I read through Lolita the first time, now on the second pass I will be hyper aware of these references, especially after reading that Nabokov even called Carroll a type of Humbert.

Why is this? Readers familiar with the life of Charles Dodgson will know that he was extremely interested in photography, one of his subjects being children, often in the nude. Was Dodgson a pervert? Nabokov seems to think so. But it also seems that Nabokov has found a source of inspiration through this stuttering author, mathematician and logician.

Yes, Carroll was a logician. However, he loved coincidences and the type of wordplay that supposedly "logicians loathe and poets love." (See the last poem of "Through the Looking Glass" that is a not so hidden acrostic of his inspiration ALICE PLEASANCE LIDDELL)

The top picture is Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) and the bottom is his close girl-child friend Alice Liddell.


There will be much more on Carroll and Wonderland as it is related to Nabokov and Lolita in the near future.

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