"I Have Only Words to Play With!": Riddling Lolita's Logodaedaly

Abstract

Abstract:Due to cryptic comments Nabokov made over the years in his published interviews and other forums, critics have long suspected that Lolita conceals a riddle. Given that there are several other such riddles or puzzles in Nabokov's oeuvre, it is reasonable to think that there is one in Lolita as well. This, however, raises the question of the relationship between authorial intention and the function of criticism; what criteria should we use to find the answer to Nabokov's riddle, and what might it contribute to a literary reading of Lolita in any case? Surveying published attempts to solve the riddle, it is clear that any solution that would betray Nabokov's own principles and theory of art should be treated with great caution. Riddles are an example of a case in which appeal to known facts about an author may be necessary (similar to the case of irony in Denis Dutton's analysis). By demonstrating how key elements in Nabokov's aesthetics might apply to the riddle, we can begin to limit possible solutions while incorporating both the search and the eventual solution into a reading that is properly literary-critical.