험버트를 위한 변호: 도착적 에로스의 정화와 승화

Abstract

There have been unaccountable defenses for the book Lolita and its author Vladimir Nabokov since it was published in 1955, but any other defense has not been made for the protagonist Humbert. In this paper, I attempt to make a defense for him. The sins that Humbert committed are immoral, hateful, and horrifying. A 37-year-old man Humbert violated a 12-year-old girl Lolita, taking her numerous hotels and motels in various parts of the states. As a legal father of Lolita, he committed incest as well as pedophilia. He also committed homicide as he killed Clare Quilty who had kidnapped Lolita. Humbert's sin results from the destructive power of the perverted eros. Eros is the sensual and instinctual love which enchants and bewitches a man with irresistible force. It leads a man to the quicksand of destruction. On the other hand, it leads to the dialectic of the tremendous lift beyond the sensual and instinctual level. For Humbert, he becomes the abhorrent sinner who is caught with the destructive power of the perverted eros. At the close of the novel, however, his eros goes through purification and sublimation. He recovers the truth of love toward Lolita and feels the pang of conscience for his sins. The way he murders Clare Quilty, who is his double and shadow, is a symbolic ritual for cleaning his sins. Humbert writes his confession just before his death in the prison. This is the culmination of his love for Lolita as art, which Nabokov calls “aesthetic bliss.” He achieves the immortality of his love for Lolita through this. Bringing my defense to a conclusion, I insist that Humbert is not innocent but guilty. However, concerning the application of punishment, let me leave it to the decision of readers.