Vladimir Nabokov: The Enchanter

[Peder]

From the back cover:

“The Enchanter is the Ur-Lolita, the precursor to Nabokov’s classic novel. At once hilarious and chilling, it tells the story of an outwardly respectable man and his fatal obsession with certain pubescent girls, whose coltish grace and subconscious coquetry reveal, to his mind, a special bud on the verge of blossom.”

As Nabokov himself said, this was the ”first little throb" of Lolita that he felt in 1939-40, fifteen years before the publication of his grand masterpiece. The similarities are of course noticeable but the differences are more noticeable, and they produce a story that can be read and enjoyed on its own, even after having read Lolita. It is a remarkable chance to see the different stories that one author can create from the same plot outline.

All are invited and are welcome to join the discussion, whether having read either of the books or not.

This thread is for an in-depth discussion of The Enchanter together with its similarities and differences from Lolita. Open discussion of major plot features, including endings, is to be expected in such a discussion, so please be aware:

This thread contains open discussion of plot spoilers and endings.​

 

[pontalba]

p.3:

"How can I come to terms with myself?" he thought, when he did any thinking at all. "This cannot be lechery. Coarse carnality is omnivorous; the subtle kind presupposes eventual satiation. So what if I did have five or six normal affairs--how can one compare their insipid randomness with my unique flame" What is the answer?"

So, like our former 'hero' our present unnamed protagonist struggles with his proclivities. With the enchanter though, he is in deep denial, of course Humbert's confessions have been written after much soul searching and facing up to the facts of his existance, but this one.....
p.4

For I cannot even consider the thought of causing pain or provoking unforgettable revulsion. Nonsense--I'm no ravisher

Down the road the fact that he cannot stand the idea of causing a reaction of revulsion is........lets just say Nabokovian....

I also have to add that while Humbert fought against his worse self, the enchanter seeks out same.

 

[Peder]

A Review of the Enchanter

The Enchanter is a 70 page novella built on the same triangular story structure that appeared again later and much more fully developed in Lolita, among the two triangles and many more story elements that are included in that famous book. The three characters in each case are a middle-aged man, a twelve-year old girl, and the mother of the girl. The man, a pedophile, becomes completely taken by the girl when he catches sight of her and hatches a plan to marry the mother to get at the girl. The similarity between the stories stops right there!

Nabokov described The Enchanter as "the first little throb" for his eventual grand masterpiece, and some have called it the prototype for the larger novel.

However, the Enchanter is an altogether simpler and shorter story which is totally different from Lolita in almost every further detailed respect that one can imagine, and it does stand on its own two feet as an absorbing story. It is told in a more straight-forward style, without the extensive layering, allusions and non-linearities of Lolita. It proceeds straight-through from the beginning to a stunning and climactic ending in a story that can be appreciated on first reading. Throughout, one is treated to the story telling ability of Nabokov, in being able to create a very unusual and suspenseful story, and the virtuosity of his language in creating characters and setting them in motion in the story.

The usual question "will the guy get the girl?" is stood on its head here, and the reader's emotions will be very strongly involved with that very question before the story is over. It can be read with full enjoyment without having read Lolita, with "ooh's" and "aah's" and "gasp's" along the way, while readers of Lolita will enjoy their own separate reasons for "ooh's," "aah's." and "gasp's." This is not a bed-time story, nor one for the faint of heart, but a thrilling suspenseful story, as we all wonder whether or not the pedophile will achieve his objectives, and what then?

"The spider pauses, the heartbeat halts" - VN

It is hoped that this review can satisfy the curiosity of readers who are trying to make up their mind whether they might be interested in buying or reading the book or not. As announced in the opening post, further posts beyond this one will almost certainly contain spoiler information as the discussion of the story proceeds beyond the purposes of overall review.

Peder

 

[Peder]

This thread will become whatever the eventual members want it to be. I personally hope that it becomes a free and open discussion of our honest thoughts and reactions to the book, just as the BOTM Lolita thread was. I sincerely hope that anyone who has any thoughts whatever about the topic will join in. Now, everyone into the pool!

Peder

 

[pontalba]

Peder! What a marvelous review! I love a mystery!

 

[Peder]

Peder! What a marvelous review! I love a mystery!

Pontalba,
It does have its share of questions that, one by one, will have to be answered along the way.
Thanks for the kind words.
Peder

 

[Peder]

Now to bed. It has been a long day.
CU all tmw
Peder

 

[SFG75]

Thanks for starting this thread Peder. After hearing so much about it in the BOTM thread, I obeyed my curious instincts and have just finished ordering the book from Amazon. Since I have to wait, I'll do some research on my own, read what others post, and look forward with anticipation to getting my hands on this book.

 

[ruby]

Peder

You have sold me this book in the pm the other day but i carnt wait for the weekend,so off i went today and bought it

Ruby

 

[Peder]

Thanks for starting this thread Peder. After hearing so much about it in the BOTM thread, I obeyed my curious instincts and have just finished ordering the book from Amazon. Since I have to wait, I'll do some research on my own, read what others post, and look forward with anticipation to getting my hands on this book.

SFG,
Glad to see that you have not been put off by the extremely disparaging review that you came across. I think friendlier ones can be found on amazon, in case you were wondering. In any event I hope your own view turns out to be that the book is not so bad after all.
Peder

 

[SFG75]

Peder

You have sold me this book in the pm the other day but i carnt wait for the weekend,so off i went today and bought it

Ruby

LOL-I'd do the same but unfortunately, we don't have a bookstore in a town of 1400 people. I'd have to drive half an hour to find a bookstore and even then, I doubt they would have it. Even if they did, it would be super expensive-which is why amazon rocks.

Some interesting links for folks:

Literary Encyclopedia entry on The Enchanter

U.K. Guardian review of The Enchanter

The International Vladimir Nabokov Society's page on The Enchanter

Possible inspiration for The Enchanter and Lolita.

 

[Peder]

Peder

You have sold me this book in the pm the other day but i carnt wait for the weekend,so off i went today and bought it

Ruby

Ruby,
So glad to see you! And that you have decided to take the plunge with Enchanter. Soon enough you will know whether you are happy with your purchase or not. When the palpitations stop, and you have regained your breath after reading the scene with the girl, I hope you will share your thoughts with us, pro or con.
Peder

 

[Peder]

Classsical 5-Act Drama

In thinking about the major features of The Enchanter after one has read it, one might notice that the action divides rather cleanly into a number of scenes that stand out in our minds.

The thought arises that, with a little adjustment of scene boundaries, one might actually fit The Enchanter into the framework of a classical 5-act drama. That classical structure is described here, quite simply, in the first page that my search turned up, although standard references certainly cover the same material.

I would offer the following dramatic framework for describing the events in The Enchanter. It might help in keeping clear what might turn into a rather complex discussion once comparisons with Lolita begin. In any event, it is interesting to see The Enchanter as a drama in five parts, especially since Lolita is anything but. In fact, that is perhaps the most fundamental major difference between the two works that might be observed. So I would offer the following, with slightly different terminology than the link uses (but more the way I remember learning it).

Part 1 - Introduction - where the major characters are introduced: the narrator, the 12-yr-old girl, her 'guardian' and (offstage) her mother. (pp 1 - 11)

Part 2 - Development - where the story progresses toward the narrator's intermediate goal, marriage to the girl's mother.(pp 12 - 28)

Part 3 - Climax --describing the narrator's marriage and his progress toward posessing the girl (pp 29 -52)

Part 4 - Catastrophe - describing his posession of the girl and its turn of events (pp 53 - 74).

Part 5 - Denoument -- or Ending, where the narrator's fate is decided (pp74 - 77)

Pontalba has, appropriately enough begun right at the begnning with the major character, the pedophile narrator himself.

Peder

 

[pontalba]

The Enchanter is rather simplistic compared to the multi-layered Lolita and the 5 part division of action you've laid out Peder is quite helpful in labeling. Great link. And even better interpretation.

As far as his 'personality profile', the contradictions in his assessment of himself stagger the imagination! On p. 5:

....I'm not attracted to every schoolgirl that comes along, far from it--how many one sees, on a gray morning street, that are husky, or skinny, or have a necklace of pimples or wear spectacles--those kinds interest me as little, in the amorous sense, as a lumpy female acquaintance might interest someone else.

Egotistical little bugger isn't he? Considering some of the physical characteristics he claims for himself, he has no room to talk! But this is the beginning of the "nymphet" of Lolita is it not. Now a bit later he completely contradicts himself by saying :

I know that I would be a most loving father in the common sense of the word, and to this day cannot decide whether this is a natural complement or a demonic contradiction.

Pah! Double Humbug!

But.... p.6

....and strangest of all, perhaps, is that, under the pretext of discussing something remarkable, I am merely seeking justification for my guilt.

Ya think?

 

[Peder]

Pontalba,
Yes, I think that whole opening interior monologue is fascinating. He begins by asking himself "How can I come to terms with myself?" as if that is a serious question for moral introspection, but then ends up, exactly as you point out, with the remark "I am merely seeking justification for my guilt." Going out the other door, so to speak, instead of the one we might expect, or just simply saying "I can't." Along the way he goes through an exceedingly convoluted thought process. When I read it I think that it is an a amzing creation of Nabokov's skill. Not only can he create characters who move, he can create a brain at work! I have reread that several times, and still it fascinates me.
In the middle of page 5, for example, when he is wondering if there are two kinds of tenderness he mentions "different genera" and all of a sudden I go "Boing!" and get the impression that the kinds of distinctions he is talking about may well be rooted in the kinds of distinctions that separate two diferent genera of butterflies, i.e. that VN's lepidoptery background is suddenly making an appearance. Because that is a rather esoteric question he is wrestling with,"How can one tell if two emotions are actually different or merely variations of the same thing?"
And then he ends up with that comment that under the pretext of talking about something remarkable, he is merely looking for an excuse for his guilt
That, it seems to me would be a very rare instance of extraordinarily insightful human introspection for a guilty person! They usually find reasons to justify their criminal behavior, not question it.
So I reread. And have to chuckle because there is no getting around rereading with Nabokov, even in something that is only a few pages long in a 'simple' story. The master's pen is definitely at work in The Enchanter and one who writes the story off, writes it off 'way too quickly IMO!

peder

 

[pontalba]

Peder Thats very true, that a guilty person usually will go to the ends of the earth to justify whatever he either does, or desires to do. Also what was interesting was the reference to:

.....different genera, or whether one is a rare flowering of the other on the Walpurgis Night of my murky soul

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walpurgis_Night#References_in_modern_culture
Interesting remarks in the light of the above link.

He admits that the manner in which he wishes to act is evil, yet in practically the same breath he turns around and plots to do same. He worms his way into the child's life thru the bench companion and eventually the mother. Yet not too much is said about the child's feelings or attitude. We deduce that she is an observant child as she notices the unusual watch he wears. Perhaps she intuits his future actions in the auto on the way to the hotel towards the end, and that is why she will not sit in the back seat.

Vibes baby, vibes.....

 

[Peder]

Vibes baby, vibes.....

Oh Pontalba,
I am definitely not going to try to out-vibe you!
I am just rereading trying to put together the picture of what he is like.

From the outside it sounds as if he looks like an eminently respectable man, and a man whose self-respect is important to him -- which leads, as you say, to Nabokovian events later on. We are told that he is in a rather refined, precise and lucrative profession, which is described obliquely,

"one that refreshed his mind, sated his sense of touch, nourished his eyesight with a vivid point on black velvet. There were numbers here, and colors, and entire crystal systems."

As a wild guess, I'll say diamonds. And if correct, I'll say that is one of the simplest puzzles one might find in Nabokov's writing. And the 'lucrative' part will help smoothe his way later on with the mother.

So, early on, even in this simple story, the seeds are being planted, unobtrusively and in plain sight, that will eventually become important and smoothe later developments.

And BTW when the girl bent low over his wrist to look at his wrist-watch (very Nabokovian, without any hands on its face ) I'm surprised he could contain himself and didn't explode. Very self-contained.

Peder

 

[pontalba]

It struck me that this man led an extremely lonely life. He speaks of years of roaming and waiting for just the right 'encounter', which if I read correctly consisted of merely being near what we now call a nymphet. When he speaks of the girl he tutored.6

.....he had never once brushed against her, but the very nearness of her wollen dress was enough to start making the lines on the paper quiver and dissolve.......

Also he speaks of

remaining mysteriously ignorant of their subsiquent fate

And this is about children that did not even notice him!
There was a similar passage in Lolita where Humbert laments his lack of knowledge of the watched ones eventual fate.

I'll never be able to see a man on a park bench again without thinking of this book.

 

[pontalba]

I don't know where that pink similie came from. And now it won't let me edit it out!

 

[Peder]

I'll never be able to see a man on a park bench again without thinking of this book.

Pontalba,
And definitely don't be wearing roller skates!

But yes, you are right - a very lonely soliitary existence. By the time Lolita comes along, Humbert is on the whole a more personable, relaxed and outward going man, I would say. And definitely wth an array of previous 'experiences' of all sorts. Even though he is tied in knots inside also.

Peder

PS, come to think of it, roller skates are a fixture in both novels also.