Student Question
Where does Humbert claim he resembles famous people Lolita is attracted to?
Quick answer:
Humbert claims to resemble famous people Lolita is attracted to by noting his "clean cut jaw, muscular hand, deep sonorous voice, broad shoulder," and mentions he is said to resemble a crooner or actor she admires. This is stated in Chapter 11. Additionally, Lolita draws a comparison in her room, associating him with a handsome model by labeling the image with "H.H."
Nabokov indeed portrays Humbert as being conscious of the fact that he can be very attractive for a preteen girl. He figures himself as a living personification of the male movie stars Lolita admires most. He literally says: "I have all the characteristics which, according to writers on the sex interests of children, start the responses stirring in a little girl: clean cut jaw, muscular hand, deep sonorous voice, broad shoulder. Moreover, I am said to resemble some crooner or actor chap whom Lo has a crush." (34) This occurs in Chapter 11. Later on, Humbert notices a poster of a handsome model in Lolita’s room: “Lo had drawn a jocose arrow to the haggard lover’s face and had put, in block letters: H.H.” (69)
REFERENCES
Nabokov, Vladimir (1989), Lolita, New York: Vintage.
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