So the photo copy didn't come out as clear as I would have hoped, but the page number is 58, and the circles on the left have numbers in them and denote a annotation. I will do my best to include the subjects which the numbers refer to below.
1. "...banal, Eden-red apple": This is one of the many references within Lolita to the scene in Genesis where Eve eats an apple from the tree of knowledge. The allusion continues on in the page as well with her tossing the apple up and down, as if playing a game with him, and then taking a bite out of it.
2. "And her white Sunday purse lay discarded near the phonograph": white often refers to innocence, and the fact that it has been thrown to the side and she is not in church could allude to the lack of innocence in Lolita. This would go along with the loss of Eve's innocence after biting into the apple as well.
3. "I produced Delicious": A Delicious is a specific kind of red apple, and it is an obvious reference to this type. Delicious could also possibly refer to either Lolita, or possibly and erection since Humbert has become extremely aroused in this scene.
4. "She grasped it and bit into it, and my heart was like snow under thin crimson skin...": This could refer to the story of snow white, who also bites into an apple and is poisoned. As Lolita bites into the apple, she takes a piece of his heart, and in the end she kind of acts as a poison in his life. Humbert also speaks of a kind of mist which surrounds him after she takes a bit, which could be from a kind of spell from the apple.
5. "...a plaster replica of the Venus di Milo...": Venus (also known as Aphrodite) is the Greek goddess of love and beauty. Venis di Milo is a marble statue of the goddess, and although her arms were broken off, it is said that in one hand she used to hold and apple and with the other she held her dress at the knee. This image is another reference to the apple/forbidden fruit. Lolita is like a Goddess to Humbert, and he finds her extremely beautiful and arousing. Also, Lolita's knees are exposed as well in this scene with her hands resting on them. (Below I have included a picture of the Venus di Milo)
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
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