Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0003746, Tue, 2 Mar 1999 18:18:23 -0800

Subject
Re: What does VN rail against? (fwd)
Date
Body
From: Akiko Nakata <akikonakata@email.msn.com>



>Is there not a passing reference in Lolita to
>Charlotte's book-of-the-month club reading
>habits?

Yes, Humbert's first impression of Charlotte is: "She was, obviously, one
of those women whose polished words may reflect a book club or bridge club,
or any other deadly conventionality, but never her soul;..." (37)
Later Humbert describes his wife, "Mrs. Haze, with her blind faith in the
wisdom of her church and book club,..." (75-6)

In Kubrick's film, Charlotte says to Humbert, "I am the chairman of the
Great Books Committee. One of the speakers that I had the last season was
Clare Quilty, the writer--TV plays--he gave us a talk on Dr. Schweitzer and
Dr. Zhivago." In VN's screanplay, she is "a proud member of the country
club" which had Professor Amy King talk to them on these two doctors. (36)

Akiko Nakata