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We carry on with Mr. John Ray’s foreword as he discusses his handling of the memoir presented to him by Humbert’s lawyer.
_ _ _
My task proved simpler than either of us had anticipated. Save for the correction of obvious solecisms and a careful suppression of a few tenacious details that despite “H.H.”’s own efforts still subsisted in his text as signposts and tombstones (indicative of places or persons that taste would conceal and compassion spare), this remarkable memoir is presented intact. It’s author’s bizarre cognomen is his own invention; and, of course, this mask - through which two hypnotic eyes seem to glow - had to remain unlifted in accordance with the wearer’s wish. While “Haze” only rhymes with the heroine’s real surname, her first name is too closely interwound with the inmost fiber of the book to allow us to alter it; nor (as the reader will perceive for himself) is there any practical necessity to do so.
-- “Lolita” by Vladimir Nabokov
_ _ _
Yes, you really don’t want to play around with the name Lolita, or as she is more formally known, Dolores Haze.
_ _ _
My task proved simpler than either of us had anticipated. Save for the correction of obvious solecisms and a careful suppression of a few tenacious details that despite “H.H.”’s own efforts still subsisted in his text as signposts and tombstones (indicative of places or persons that taste would conceal and compassion spare), this remarkable memoir is presented intact. It’s author’s bizarre cognomen is his own invention; and, of course, this mask - through which two hypnotic eyes seem to glow - had to remain unlifted in accordance with the wearer’s wish. While “Haze” only rhymes with the heroine’s real surname, her first name is too closely interwound with the inmost fiber of the book to allow us to alter it; nor (as the reader will perceive for himself) is there any practical necessity to do so.
-- “Lolita” by Vladimir Nabokov
_ _ _
Yes, you really don’t want to play around with the name Lolita, or as she is more formally known, Dolores Haze.
