Gra w memory. Etyka pamięci i pamięć o kobietach w „Lolicie” Władimira Nabokowa
Memory game. The ethics of memory and the memory of women in "Lolita" by Vladimir Nabokov

Author(s): Julia Kożuchowska
Subject(s): Theory of Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego
Keywords: memory; ethics of memory; Lolita; morality
Summary/Abstract: The aim of the paper is to analyze the ethics of memory and the memory of women in Vladimir Nabokov’s novel Lolita. The research used the memory theories of Jerzy Kałążny and Brigit Neumann and the tools of philological hermeneutics. Memory is the subject of interdisciplinary research, with each branch of science examining this category in its own specific way. In literary studies itself, there are three approaches related to memory: literary memory, memory in literature and literature as a medium of memory. Identity, closely related to ethics and memory, is also a significant problem. Lolita was written in the form of a diary in which Humbert Humbert contains his memories of his life and relationships with women. An important role is played by the form of the work, the first-person narrative and direct addresses to the recipient, which make it difficult to resist the temptation to look more favorably at Humbert, who presents himself as a victim of his own actions. The lack of ethical and moral values represented by this hero is evidenced by the detailed and poetic way of describing little girls – nymphets, who catch Humbert in their traps and arouse desire. What is also disturbing is that adult women cause the narrator to feel disgust, aggression and thoughts of committing murder. Humbert Humbert’s attitude is condemnable, and the hero himself does not deserve any mercy.

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