MovieChat Forums > Tension (1949) Discussion > Tension and Lolita, Synchronicity.

Tension and Lolita, Synchronicity.


I know this is all coincidence but I just wanted to get it somewhere into the archives that there are a couple of curious correspondences between the names of the characters in "Tension" and some of the names mentioned in Vladimir Nabokov's novel "Lolita."

Audrey Totter's character's name is Claire Quimby, while in "Lolita" the heavy's name is Clare Quilty. There IS a Quimby mentioned in the novel, but it's Phineas Quimby, an early 19th-century philosopher and inventor from New England. One of Phineas Quimby's teachers was named Collyer, as in Lieutenant Collier Bonnabel.

Come to think of it, Nabokov was writing his novel about the time that this was in release, he was a big fan of vernacular art, and he wasn't above ripping off names like these.

reply

what's in a name

reply

You might be right.

reply

Good observation. Sounds like a definite possibility.

reply

Sounds like a coincidence, or as the kids would say, "ironic".

reply