Response to Chapter 8 section 2
Speak, Memory chapter 8 section 2 is Nabokov’s account of one of his many tutors, Ordo. Nabokov illustrates his tutor through a, “magic-lantern sequence” (155), of slides. The first slide depicts tutor Ordo as, “the enlightened son of a Greek Catholic deacon”(156). Nabokov characterizes each tutor with a specific gimmick, Ordo, for example, “…would give a rather profane and foolish performance for which my brother and I clamored every time we passed there. Bending his head and flapping his coat in weird, vampiric fashion he would slowly cavort around a lugubrious aspen”(156). Ordo’s residency was short lived and ended abruptly with a sentimental letter left in his place. Nabokov infers his tutor fled after an affair with his mother ended.
The following tutor was Ukrainian and performed magic tricks for the boys, such as vanishing trick coin. Nabokov recounts that it was at this time he became aware of how the, “wonders of nature were beginning to impress me at that early age”(157). Due to a heart condition this tutor collapsed in the street and was scooped up by the police and discarded with the local drunkards.
Nabokov introduces his next tutor with a slide of his teacher standing on his head. His defining trait was his athleticism, and only remained in Nabokov’s company for a “stormy month’s stay”(158). According to Nabokov’s illustration he had an extensive collection of weights and dumbbells. His punishment method consisted of putting on boxing gloves and giving Nabokov a nice lick square in the face. Although Nabokov preferred this to Mademoiselles’ penalty of repeatedly writing a French proverb, “Qui aime bien, châtie bien”(158), he was not remorseful when his tutor departed only a month after his arrival.
Max Linder is the next tutor Nabokov encountered and was the first man Nabokov genuinely respected. Max and Nabokov were almost approached by Cossacks during an outing and in response Max half-drew his pistol. Nabokov raves about Max’s gun and fantasizes hunting with him and his father. Nabokov writes, “I visualize my father on a summer day in the country vying with Max in marksmanship-riddling with pistol bullets a rusty NO HUNTING sign in our woods”(158). This life experience is definitely where Nabokov found inspiration for using a gun as Humbert’s murder weapon. It’s parallels between Nabokov’s life experiences and plot details within Lolita such as these that validate that Nabokov drew from his own life experiences to humanize the rapist Humbert is, which allows the audience to have empathy for him, allowing him to be a protagonist the reader can relate to guiltlessly.
The next tutor Nabokov had was Lenski. Nabokov felt a need to protect Lenski because he was a great teacher. Nabokov illustrates Lenski’s person as,
There something irritating about his dry voice, his excessive neatness, the way he had of constantly wiping his glasses with a special cloth or paring his nails with a special gadget, his pedantically correct speech and, perhaps most of all, his fantastic morning custom of marching (seemingly straight out of bed but already shod and trousered, with red braces hanging behind and a strange netlike vest enveloping his plump hairy torso) to the nearest faucet and limiting there his ablutions to a thorough sousing of his pink face, blue skull and fat neck, followed by some lusty Russian nose-blowing, after which he marched, with the same purposeful steps, but now dripping and purblind, back to his bedroom where he kept in a secret place three sacrosanct towels… (160).
The similarities between Humbert’s personality and Lenski’s are undeniable. From their speech to their particular way of doing things is further evidence that Nabokov pulled from his own experiences to make Humbert a protagonist the reader can root for.
