Topic: Memory

     I really want to dive more into the subject of the reliability of Humbert's memory. The more I read, the more I become suspicious as a reader. Humbert claims to remember verbatim journal entries and letters and conversations, but he can't remember what someone looked like or the details of a place. When he begins to recant his journey with Lo across America, he'll describe little places or the gestures of Lo throughout his experiences with her, but he'll completely forget where they went one day.

    For example, he describes a town as "pregnant with inky rain" (152) and then says, "I have a clear frank account of the itenerary we followed" (153) but then goes on to say, "I am afraid I did not keep any notes" (154). If he didn't keep any notes, it seems almost impossible that he could make such a largely outlandish statement that he remembers everything about their journey. Like I mentioned in my last post, the way Lolita talks is also under question.

Throughout the rest of the novel, I want to find passages that seem unreliable and compare them to ones that are in fact very believable and try to come to a conclusion about whether or not I, as a reader, believe Humbert, the fictional writer.