On 23/1/08 16:19, "Logan Norris" <loganmnorris@YAHOO.COM> wrote:
In relation to the question of how Lolita knew Humbert's address, Lolita had kept in contact with Mona in the screenplay version in the book. Mona had corresponded with Lolita and Lolita probably knew already through Mona that Humbert was still at Beardsley (in the screenplay). Mona would have still been going to the girls school at the time, assuming she was Lolita's age, perhaps Humbert's mail was forwarded from his Beardsley mailbox to his current address--and Mona knew this? Or perhaps Nabokov created this story to suggest a contact theory like the Farlow one. I'm not sure how college mailing systems work, but perhaps that might lead to something.
And one other thing, in the chapter where Humbert receives Dolly's letter, he mentions two other pieces of mail. The one that interests me momentarily is the letter from Rita's mother, "a crazy little woman, whom we had visited on Cape Cod and who kept writing me to my various addresses" (Annotated Lolita pg 265). How was she following Humbert's address? It was not through either Beardsley or Farlow, so there had to be another way. And perhaps these two instances (Rita's mother and Lo) are connected in method.
Logan Norris
I must confess to mixed feelings over this hunt to fill in perceived 'gaps' in VN's narratives. We accept that letters reached X from Y as part of the essential plot-line. We don't accuse VN of lying, do we, although we know he 'made up' the whole story with sufficiently convincing 'realistic' backprops, as novelists are inclined to do for this particular genre. Had 'Lolita' ended with HH 'walking' as his prison melted away (cf Invitation to a Beheading), we would not be questioning the physical implausibilities.
The genre would have changed, and so would our reading.
In the case of the glorious US Mail, anyone who has moved about the States a bit (I know I have) will be familiar with the standard forwarding arrangements via a change-of-address request.
https://moversguide.usps.com/?referral=USPS
But I'm not even offering this as a possible solution. Others have listed alternatives. I'm happy to accept that letters reached X from Y without VN spelling out the inessential methodology. No Laws of Physics have been violated!
On the other hand, the near-zero, real-world probability that Mrs HH should be killed in such a well-timed auto accident -- deus ex MACHINA, literally -- that surely stretches VN's credibility. In the nicest way!
PS: I'm reminded of Sherlock Holmes fans who check the train time-tables and postal-delivery schedules. "I think you'll find that Doyle was mistaken. The 10:30am from Paddington to Bristol was cancelled on May 21st, 1891"
Stan Kelly-Bootle