Who is responsible for Hazel’s death? The Shades? Some boy? Her own 
psyche? All these miss the obvious. The person who causes her death is 
Nabokov. Of course, we can all come up with a variety of reasons for why 
he does away with her, reasons that have to do with the integrity of 
this one novel. But what would happen if we stepped back from the 
individual case and considered all the characters the author has killed?

If I were a literery scholar (I am not), and if I had read all of 
Nabokov’s fiction (I haven’t), and had the time (I don’t), I would make 
a list of all his victims. I’d get basic demographic data (age, sex, 
marital status, etc.) and other personal characteristics, cause of 
death, relationship to the other figures in the work, and other factors 
I can’t think of right now. (I’m not sure how I would count characters, 
like Humbert, who die after the action of the novel.)

Of course, this exercise would have no literary value— i.e., it would 
add little, if anything, to our understanding or appreciation of the 
work—and I fear that the un-Nabokovian Activities Committee would 
object. But I still think it would be interesting to do this census of 
dead souls. (If it's already been done, somebody please supply a reference.)

Jay Livingston

Search the Nabokv-L archive at UCSB

Contact the Editors

All private editorial communications, without exception, are read by both co-editors.

Visit Zembla

View Nabokv-L Policies