pavor nocturnus: Latin; night panic. Quilty lives in "Pavor Manor."

peine forte et dure: French; strong and hard torture.

Dostoevskian grin: Fyodor Dostoevsky (18211881), the famous Russian novelist, was long one of Nabokov's primary targets. In the Playboy interview he said, "Non-Russian readers do not realize two things; that not all Russians love Dostoevsky as much as Americans do, and that most of those Russians who do, venerate him as a mystic and not as an artist. He was a prophet, a claptrap journalist and a slapdash comedian. I admit that some of his scenes, some of his tremendous, farcical rows are extraordinarily amusing. But his sensitive murderers and soulful prostitutes are not to be endured for one moment-by this reader anyway." "Heart-to-heart talks, confessions in the Dostoevskian manner are also not in my line," he writes in Speak, Memory (p. 286). But H.H. is the ultimate in "sensitive murderers," and by casting his tale as a "confession," Nabokov lets Dostoevsky lay down the rules and then beats "old Dusty" at his own game. See Blank ... Blankton, Mass. for remarks on another convention allied with the confession-the literary diary.

Well-read Humbert: the lines he quotes are from Canto III, stanza 116 of Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812, 1816, 1818), by George Gordon, Lord Byron (17881824), English poet. These lines occur almost at the end of the Canto (lines 10801081), and are addressed to Ada, Harold's absent daughter. Byron was in Italy at this time, estranged from the wife he had married for the sake of tranquility and respectability-a gesture H.H. would no doubt appreciate, as he would sympathize with the difficulties occasioned by the amorous poet's incestuous relationship with his half sister. Dr. Byron is the Haze family physician, and he too has a daughter (see child of Dolly's age). But, as an unwitting accomplice to a seduction, he belies his name, for the sleeping pills he dispenses prove ineffective at The Enchanted Hunters hotel (see here). Byron's works and Byron's Augusta Ada, a gifted girl in her own right, resonate in Nabokov's longest novel, Ada, as does the "Byronic" (and Chateaubriandesque) theme of incest; Ada Veen even has a bit part in a film called Don Juan's Last Fling. Nabokov's deep knowledge of Byron is made evident throughout his Eugene Onegin Commentary (see the "Byron" entry in the Index, Vol. IV).

Charlotte: the name of Werther's tragic love in The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774), by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (17491832). The choice of a name is clearly ironic, since Goethe's Charlotte marries another. Weepy Werther, an artist of sorts, remains hopelessly in love with her and eventually takes his own life. "A faded charm still clings about this novel, which artistically is greatly inferior to Chateaubriand's Rene and even to Constant's Adolphe," writes Nabokov in his Eugene Onegin Commentary (Vol. II, p. 345). See Lottelita, Lolitchen. Goethe is also invoked on heterosexual Erlkonig in pursuit. For Chateaubriand, see Chateaubriandesque trees.

quel mot: French; what a word.

incubus: an evil spirit or demon, originally in personified representations of the nightmare, supposed to descend upon persons in their sleep, and especially to seek sexual intercourse with women. In the Middle Ages their existence was recognized by ecclesiastical and civil law. The epithet "Humbert the Cubus" is of course his own variant. For more on enchantments, see not human, but nymphic.

mauvemail: H.H.'s coinage; mauve is pale pinkish purple.

"The orange ... grave": a parody of a "poetic" quotation.

raree-show: a show carried about in a box; a peep show.

Une petite attention: a nice thought (a favor).

Incarnadine: flesh-colored or bright pink. This word appears in a stanza from The Rubaiyat; see Wine, wine ... for roses.

eructations: violent belches.

by Pan!: H.H.'s "by God!" In Greek mythology, a god of forests, flocks, and shepherds, having the horns and hoofs of a goat.

CHAPTER 18.

soi-disant: French; so-called (also used here).

a Turk: Charlotte is not quite sure of H.H.'s "racial purity." Neither is Jean Farlow, who intercepts an anti-Semitic remark (here), nor The Enchanted Hunters' management (here). See Babylonian blood and spaniel ... baptized.

contretemps: French; an embarrassing or awkward occurrence.

rattles: the sound-producing organs on a rattlesnake's tail.

rubrique: a newspaper section.

"Edgar"... "writer and explorer": Edgar A. Poe, whose Narrative of A. Gordon Pym was the product of an alleged polar expedition (see Pym, Roland). For the Poe allusions, see Lo-lee-ta.

Peacock, Rainbow: Thomas Love Peacock (17851866), English poet and novelist, whose name recalls the "Rainbow," or Arthur Rimbaud (18541891), French poet. After abandoning literature at the age of eighteen, Rimbaud traveled widely. In 1888 in Abyssinia, where he sold guns, the English called the ex-poet "trader Rainbow," as Nabokov notes in his Eugene Onegin Commentary (Vol. III, p. 412). For further allusions, see ramparts of ancient Europe, parapets of Europe, touche, reader!, and mon ... radieux.

Lottelita, Lolitchen: H.H. toys with "Lotte," a diminutive of "Charlotte," and discerns Lolita in Lotte ("Lottelita"), which is also a phonetic transcription of American idiom and diction (Lot of [Lo]lita). Lolitchen is formed with the German diminutive ending -chen. H.H. no doubt recalls that Goethe's Werther calls his Charlotte "Lotte" and "Lottchen." See Charlotte.

ecru and ocher: ecru is a grayish yellow that is greener and paler than chamois or old ivory. Ocher is a dark yellow color derived from or resembling ocher, a hydrated iron oxide.

4640 Roosevelt Blvd.... mattress: the firm is Sears Roebuck Co., and the mattress in question will arrive at a grotesquely inappropriate moment at the end of Chapter 24.

the jovial dentist: Clare Quilty's Uncle Ivor. Much later H.H. will learn from Lolita herself that Quilty met her through this association. H.H. recapitulates their confrontation: "Well, did I know that he was practically an old friend? That he had visited with his uncle in Ramsdale?-oh, years ago-and spoken at Mother's club, and had tugged and pulled her, Dolly ... onto his lap ..." An earlier draft of the novel contained Quilty's appearance before the ladies. See Quilty, Clare for a summary of his appearances.

such dainty ladies as Mrs. Glave: from the unusual verb, "glaver;" "to palaver;" "to flatter; wheedle."

arriere-pensee: French; hidden thoughts, ulterior motives.

interrupted Jean: John is about to say "Jews," and Jean, suspecting that H.H. may be Jewish, tactfully interrupts. See spaniel ... baptized.

CHAPTER 19.

A Guide to ... Development: the titles H.H. mentions are by turns invented (Who's Who in the Limelight; Clowns and Columbines), actual (the other titles here; Brute Force), or close approximations of existing works, as in this instance. A plethora of actual titles circle about this "fool's book" (e.g., Guide to Child Development through the Beginning School Years [1946]), and Nabokov seems to have created a central, summary title (though the exact title may yet exist). See Know Your Own Daughter.

CHAPTER 20.

Hourglass Lake ... spelled: earlier it was "Our Glass Lake" (see Our Glass Lake and Our Glass Lake). H.H. doesn't correct "errors" in his "unrevised" draft. Whether right or wrong, both the names are significant, underscoring H.H.'s solipsism (the circumscribing mirror of "our glass") and obsession with time ("hourglass").

the gesture: it inspires the mock quotation, "look, Lord ..." as if to demonstrate one's chains.

duenna of my darling: the echo of "Annabel Lee" is linked with duenna, "The chief lady in waiting on the queen of Spain" (Webster's 2nd).

c'est moi qui decide: French; it is I who decide.

acrosonic: a noise reaching to or past the sonic barrier. It would seem to be H.H.'s own word.

shooting her lover ... making him say "akh!": a preview of Quilty's death. See I shot ... said: Ah.' and a feminine. He may indeed have been "her lover," however fleetingly; "I knew your dear wife slightly," Quilty later admits to H.H.

at first wince: H.H.'s variant of "at first glance."

Krestovski: to give them one kind of scare or another; see burley ... Krestovski.

Cavall and Melampus: the Farlows' dogs. "Cavall" comes from cavallo (a horse), and "Melampus" from the seer in Greek mythology who understood the tongue of dogs and introduced the worship of Dionysus. More specifically, noted Nabokov, the dogs are named after those of a famous person, though he was not certain who owned them. He thought it was Lord Byron, who had many bizarrely named dogs. In any event, these allusions are hardly within the cultural reach of the Farlows.

Waterproof: the wristwatch. See Waterproof, where H.H. offers this interlude as a central clue to Quilty's identity.

old Ivor ... his nephew: Clare Quilty. For a summary of allusions to Quilty, see Quilty, Clare.

CHAPTER 21.

"Ce qui ... comme ca": French; "What drives me crazy is the fact that I do not know what you are thinking about when you are like this."

the ultimate sunburst: in Who's Who in the Limelight, "Roland Pym" is said to have "Made debut in Sunburst" (see Made debut in Sunburst).

Beaver Eaters: a portmanteau of "Beefeaters" (the yeomen of the British royal guard) and their beaver hats. Some have seen this as an obvious obscene joke, but Nabokov did not intend one. "Moronic and oxymoronic," he said, remembering the guard's old reputation for male prostitution ("beaver" is of the female gender, innocent reader).

CHAPTER 22.

Euphemia: from the Greek euphmos; auspicious, sounding good.

olisbos: the leather phallos worn by participants in the Greek Dionysia.

child of Dolly's age: "Byron, Marguerite" (see here). For Dr. Byron's namesake, see Well-read Humbert.

my pin: a coinage; H.H.'s favorite drink, a mixture of pineapple juice and gin. He also refers to this "pin" here and here.

CHAPTER 23.

savoir vivre: French; good manners, good breeding.

alembic: anything used to distill or refine.

Adieu, Marlene: Dietrich; see Lola.

CHAPTER 24.

simian: monkey- or apelike. Nabokov is toying with the Doppelganger convention of an evil self; H.H. should not be "simian" because Quilty is the bad one.

CHAPTER 25.

Eh bien, pas du tout!: French; Well, not at all!

Climax: however broad the joke may be, there happen to be seven towns in the United States by this name (as well as a Lolita, Texas). Demon Veen, the father of Ada's hero, retreats to his "aunt's ranch near Lolita, Texas" (p. 14), a town which doubtless boasts no bookstore or library.

stylized blood: everything red is "stylized."

argent: archaic; silver, silvery, shining-as in French.

Vee ... and Bea: see Virginia ... Edgar and Dante ... month of May. For a summary of Poe allusions, see Lo-lee-ta.

glans: anatomical word; the conical vascular body which forms the extremity of the penis.

oolala black: pseudo-French epithet for "sexy" black frills.