Lolita: The Etymology of a Nymphet
The novel Lolita concerns a relationship characterized by obsession by a middle aged man, Humbert, for a prepubescent girl, Lolita. This fictional relationship has been a source of many questions as to what the writer, Vladimir Nabokov, had in mind when he wrote the novel. Thus, the novel has been looked at from different aspects in attempting to come up with what it portrays.
Humbert, in his flowery description of Lolita, uses the word "nymphet" to refer not only to her but also to other girls of her age and characteristics. Little girls that came his way before Lolita, he describes as nymphets too. The purpose of this analysis will be to discover what exactly Humbert refers to as a nymphet in the novel Lolita in relation to the type of image today's society sees as a nymphet with the goal of establishing whether or not the novel portrays the influence of a nymphet. It will attempt to find the similarities and differences between the image of a nymphet that Lolita portrays and the real life image of today.
The history of the word "nymphet" in English does not go beyond 1955 when the novel Lolita was published because its first use is in the novel. It was introduced into English by Mr. Humbert Humbert himself. Through his unique sexual perception, Humbert describes the behavior or the sexually luring ability of little girls as unnatural or nymphic:
"Now I wish to introduce the following idea. Between the age limits of
nine and fourteen there occur maidens who, to certain bewitched travelers,
twice or many times older than they, reveal their true nature which is not
human, but nymphic (that is, demoniac); and these chosen creatures I propose to designate as "nymphets (16)"
Nymphic is adjectival for the noun 'nymph' and the Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia defines nymphs to be, in "Greek and Roman mythology, lesser divinities or spirits of nature, dwelling in groves and fountains, forests, meadows, streams, and the sea, represented as mortal and beautiful creatures that were sometimes love objects to olympian maidens, fond of music and dancing." They could also be "vengeful and destructive", a character that will be shown to work against Humbert, not physically, but emotionally.
Humbert's image of a nymphet is enhanced by the thoughts and memories of Annabel that he harbors. He sees Lolita as a reincarnation of Annabel: "It was the same child - the same frail, honey-hued shoulders, the same silky supple bare back, the same chestnut head of hair" (39).
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...locaust Girlhood Remembered. New York: Feminist Press at the City University of New York, 2001. Print.
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With his 1955 novel Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov invents a narrator by the name of Humbert Humbert who is both an exquisite wordsmith and an obsessive pedophile. The novel serves as the canvas upon which Humbert Humbert will paint a story of love, lust, and death for the reader. His confession is beautiful and worthy of artistic appreciation, so the fact that it centers on the subject of pedophilia leaves the reader conflicted by the close of the novel. Humbert Humbert frequently identifies himself as an artist and with his confession he hopes “to fix once for all the perilous magic of nymphets” (Nabokov, Lolita 134). Immortalizing the fleeting beauty and enchanting qualities of these preteen girls is Humbert Humbert’s artistic mission
Lolita is one of the most unconventional literary classics of the century. Lolita is a twelve-year-old girl, who is desired by the European intellectual Humbert Humbert. As the narrator of the story, Humbert chronicles his abnormal childhood, adolescent experiences, and an adventure in a booming American as a European tourist and pedophile. But it is key to realize his first heartbreak as a boy manifests into his desires for nymphets. This point is made clear in both the novel and movie. I will show that the movie Lolita, is a solid rendition of the novel of the same name.
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