Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0006025, Wed, 13 Jun 2001 10:05:49 -0700

Subject
Lolita & Molly Bloom's last words (Joyce. Ulysses)
Date
Body
From: Rodney Welch <rodney41@mindspring.com>

Does the last line of Chapter 10 of Lolita subtly allude to the last
line
of Joyce's Ulysses? Alfred Appel's annotated version doesn't say so, but
it
certainly occurred to me in a recent re-reading.
In Chapter 10, Charlotte gives Humbert the grand tour of the Haze
household, concluding with the delirium-inducing sight of Dolores on the
lawn. The conclusion of the chapter reads as follows:

"...All I know is that while the Haze woman and I went down the
steps
into the breathless garden, my knees were like reflections of knees in
rippling water, and my lips were like sand, and -
"`That was my Lo,' she said, `and these are my lilies.'"
"`Yes,' I said `yes. They are beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!'"

Ё... yes I said yes I will Yes╡ are of course the last words of
Joyce's
masterpiece. Is there more to this association? Molly Bloom does make
casual
references in her monologue to Lily Lantry, "The Jersey Lily" -- I don╧t
recall whether the association runs deeper. What does strike me, though,
is
that Molly, at the end of her monolgue, casts herself as the "Flower of
the
mountain" with "the rose in my hair," giving herself over to mixed
memories
of Lieutenant Mulvey and her husband Leopold, and her own raging
youthful
desire with both. Am I going too far out on a limb to contrast Humbert,
unleashing his own lust on a youthful object, Lolita -- who doesn't
carry a
rose in her hair but is often compared to one?
Am I reaching here?

Rodney Welch
Columbia, SC