N. was certainly a big Chaplin fan and for sure knew
of, etc., etc., but to say, as this breezy piece and
cited authors put it, that it was his "inspiration" is
absurd.  I say that because I know for a fact that his
real inspiration for Lolita was Lewis Carroll - double
r, double l (mesmer-mesmer) - after all N.
translated... Wait, I meant to say it was Poe. Yes,
Edgar Allan Poe! Kissing cousin of sweet Virginia of
just 13; tra-la-la, when she was child, just like
Annabel Leigh, I mean Lee. Or rather, Poe wasn't the
inspiration for Lolita at all, it was Petrarch, no
Dante, no Virgil, or maybe it was . . .  etc., etc. 

[And meanwhile N. is watching somewhere giggling at
us, 'winking happy thoughts into a little tiddle
cup.'] 

happy hunting y'all!
	

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