Nabokov's Lolita viewed through Peakian Lens

[SM Kovalinsky]

Although I had viewed both film renditions of Nabokov's Lolita - the 1962 with James Mason and the 14 year old Sue Lyon, and the 1997 with Jeremy Irons and Dominique Swain - I have only recently read the original text. And how fortunate to have the Peakian dyad from which to view this strange text.
I was struck by Daemonic and Itladian references: Quilty as the "double" of Humbert Humbert, who shadows him, and even uses "daemon speak" in the hotel; the synchronicities which haunt Lolita and Humbert in their travels ( hotel number is same as house number; a man appears who looks like Humbert's Uncle); the premonitions which Humbert has, and the "inner guidance" from "Annabel Leigh" (a play on words for Edgar Allen Poe's lost muse). There is even the sense of "falling out of time" which haunts Humbert as he confuses Lolita with Annabel:

The spiritual and the physical had been blended in us with a perfection that must remain incomprehensible to the matter-of-fact, crude, standard-brained youngsters of today. Long after her death I felt her thoughts floating through mine. Long before we met we had had the same dreams. We compared notes. We found strange affinities. The same June of the same year (1919) a stray canary had fluttered into her house and mine, in two widely separated countries. Oh, Lolita, you loved me thus!

What strikes me as well, is the similarities in the faces of the stunning 13 year old Dominique Swain, as Lolita (1997), and Tony's unique gaze. As you can see in the pics on my blog, it is the same beautiful face, on both! Daemon eyes: http://musingsinobamasamerica.blogspot.com/2010/09/viewing-nabokovs-lolita-thru-lens-of.html


Anthony Peake has given such a rich treasure with his dyad. What a powerful tool, Tony, you have given mankind! I thank you, as always.

[Anthony Peake]

"Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth. Lo. Lee. Ta. She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one sock. She was Lola in slacks. She was Dolly at school. She was Dolores on the dotted line. But in my arms she was always Lolita."

What an amazing opening line to a novel!

You may be interested to know that Professor Michael Maar, a German academic teaching at Stanford University wrote to me two years ago and pointed out many interesting parallels between ITLAD/CTF and the writings of Nabokov. He particularly pointed me to a novel called Transparent Things which Michael informed me is "an exact translation of your Daemon-and-spirits-theory formed into fiction. You should have a look."

Thanks for this posting Susan-Marie, I will contact Michael again and see if we can get him involved on here. As far as I am aware he is now back in Berlin. He contacted me after placing this amazing review of ITLAD onto Amazon USA:

"In "Harry Potter" there is a witch who owns a magic book "you can't stop reading". Mr. Peake apparently had met this witch and tickled her secret out of here. His book, in any case, is one you can't stop reading. You don't need to agree with his last conclusion about life never ending but repeating itself at Death's approach in something like an exploding time-bubble and a new parallel universe. But along the way, leading to this conclusion, you will have revelations and epiphanies on every second page. Nothing is like it seems to be - this, at least,is one truth you carry home having read this brillant and mind-boggling book."

[Anthony Peake]

(This is the image that Susan-Marie links to in the above posting)
Susan-Marie,

What struck me straight away was who this image reminded me of .... it is of my own mother when she was a young woman. It is really quite uncanny. I will try and scan an old photograph and you will see what I mean. In the meantime I can, obviously, see similarities in my baby sister when she was younger:


but it is a younger version of my mother that has a real resemblance to this actress .....

[SM Kovalinsky]

Wow, I can see the similarity to Swain in your beautiful sister, Tony, and also to you! Your great looks obviously run in the family, and I will love to see the pic of your Mom as a girl. I knew when I saw the Swain pic that I was seeing "the Tony look" - but now I can see it was the Peake look as well!
That is fascinating that an esteemed Professor had already seen the parallels to your dyad in Nabokov's work, and I hope he comes to forum; we could have some fascinating discussions. * Thanks for your above compelling post, and the beautiful picture.
*And what a fantastic review he gives you there, I had not seen that, thanks for posting! Every word is apt and true.

[Anthony Peake]

A family joke is that both my sister (Sandra) and my mother have a particularly noticeable "widow's peak(e)" - this makes their faces heart-shaped. Sadly my mother now is the "Widow Peake" as my father died over twenty years ago but Sandra's hubby (Rod) is still fit and healthy over there in Western Canada!