Sorry if this topic has been brought up before, but has anyone else notice that when Humbert Humbert meets certain women they tend to place their hands on his forearm? (Jean, Mrs. Starch and I think the woman at Camp Climax also.) It seems like a strange habit.
DAMM: Drunks Against Mad Mothers
This is as good a time as any to mention the theme of Sullivan's Travels/Lolita co...incedents.
The forearm touching is highlighted by the scene at the drive-in where all of the hands co-mingle along with the groans of the Mummy, one atop another. Watch the similar scene from Sullivan, and see how Kubrick plays.
Then watch the direct quote of the husband's portrait on the wall and the ashes in the urn from the earlier film.
There's also a brief interlude which is pure Sturges, the slapstick/pratfall segment, which he inserted into nearly all of his films.
Kubrick's take on this, in the form of the folding cot, is surely not pure coincidence.
Any others?
only women notice such things
shareI got the impression that Humbert could have had his pick of several attractive women in his age group but was blinded to this by his obsession with Lolita.
"Don't tell me your little problems son, all I'm interested in is results."
Right you are. In the novel, Humbert's self-description indicates a wildly attractive man overflowing with animal magnetism. Many women find him irresistible and become aggressive with him, pawing at him and flirting and all that.
Charlotte, Jean Farlow ("Far low." Names have meaning in Nabokov's world), Mrs. Starch, etc. All pulling at him and/or making invitations.