Post for 9/8/13

I have figured out what I would like to write about. I had been seeking some intersection between Nabokov's commentary on the artificiality of the novel, as well as his discussion of the way we reduce people to images or labels. Well, fortunately, I've found a way I think I can do that. Humbert Humbert, has many pleas to his audience. Some of which are "my learned reader" some of which are "ladies and gentlemen of the jury" etc. What I think is fascinating is the way (I find) humanity and artificiality come together in these invocations. For instance, when Humbert Humbert says "Ladies and gentlemen of the jury--I wept" (103). This moment is fascinating because Humbert Humbert is asking us to see him as an image. He wants us to see him as the image of a weeping man, a man who weeps. Humbert Humbert, in this fascinating moment (amongst others) makes an appeal based on an image, or a stereotype we have in our minds. It doesn't matter whether or not he is lying, he is trying to use these tropes, these images, to show us that he is not a monster, and that he hurts, and feels too. What I personally love so much about this is that we know better. Humbert Humbert presents us with an image of himself, but we are very aware that it is a false image. Nabokov, in this way, forces his reader to stop and say "Hey, you're not this two dimensional." Constantly, throughout the text, there are appeals, calls to the humanity of the reader. What is (in my opinion) so interesting, is the fact that Nabokov and Humbert Humbert deal with the question differently. For Nabokov, the text at large is a motion of humanization.

In the one axis of intersection is the breaking of fiction. This happens throughout the book in about a million different ways (Nabokov's range of ways to break or tinker with the artificiality of fiction are quite vast.) However, I particularly like the "ladies and gentlemen of the jury" because it addresses an audience that is both fictional and real. Humbert Humbert is aware that whoever reads this book (his book) is going to try to make a judgement call about him, or is going to decide upon the morality of his actions. This is what he means when he says "of the jury." He is aware that we are going to judge him for his behavior. So, he makes several appeals, to this reader, who will, after all, judge him. After all, it is his humanity and moral indiscretion that the book deals with. However, it isn't clear who he is making that appeal to. On the one hand, I think that we are the readers. We, in the nonfictional, tangible world, are the readers. And we aren't not the readers. I know that probably sounds silly, but it's not that I'm trying to deny our reading of the book. I am, however trying to say, that he is appealing to both an imaginary reader (one who exists in the same external (external meaning outside Humbert Humbert's) world) and a "real one" (you, Tess, Kayla, Danielle, or anyone else holding Nabokov's book.) I suppose that's a better way of categorizing. There are a set of imaginary people reading Humbert Humbert's book, and a set of "real" people reading Nabokov's book.  It's not clear which (if any) of these groups Humbert is crying out to. I find that fascinating.