Language and Human Experience in Lolita

Nabokov Plays With Style and Shows Something of Human Emotion

Dec 9, 2008

In one of the great works of 20th century literature, Vladimir Nabokov exemplifies the importance of connecting written style with written theme.

In Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita, language gives resonance to human experience; it is the filter through which the reader comes to understand the key components of the novel, and the motivations and desires of its characters .The opening lines of the novel signify this perfectly:

Lolita, light of my life fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. 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.

This poetic style compliments the emotional prominence of the passage. From Humbert Humbert’s attentiveness, it is apparent that the subject in question is more than simple attraction; Nabokov’s great detail alerts the reader to the deep obsessions of the protagonist.

Lolita’s End – Human Experience Filtered Through Language

This can be compared with the final paragraph of Lolita, in which Nabokov writes:

I am thinking of aurochs and angels, the secret of durable pigments, prophetic sonnets, the refuge of art. And this is the only immortality you and I may share, my Lolita.

Again, the narrative form draws the reader into a point of significance; the close of the novel concludes the concept of Humbert’s almost spiritual desire for Lolita, personified in poetic language.

The novel itself, and the motif of language shaping theme, is equally illustrated in the fact that the first and last words of the novel are the title of the piece; Humbert Humbert’s obsession stretches from beginning to end and feeds into the title, creating a complete piece that lets Lolita live immortally.

Human Experience and Language - Marrying Content and Style Throughout Lolita

The concept of language as Nabokov’s delivery of human experience is not exclusive to the often carefully revised beginning and ending. Having left Lolita for the last time, it is possible to see that language as the shape of human experience is a universal theme – in Lolita, the highest emotional points create the greatest quality of language. As Nabokov writes:

Even if those eyes of hers were to fade to myopic fish, and her nipples swell and crack, and her lovely young velvety delicate delta be tainted and torn – even then I would go mad with tenderness at the mere sight of your dear wan face, at the mere sound of your raucous young voice, my Lolita.

What is clear, then, is that Lolita emphasizes the interdependency of form, style and content in great works of literature, working its protagonist's inner thoughts through the elegance of poetic prose.

The copyright of the article Language and Human Experience in Lolita in American Fiction is owned by Chris Woolfrey. Permission to republish Language and Human Experience in Lolita in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.