Lolita
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This book is intended to provide help for students studying the novel Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov. It contains links to websites and reviews on this Novel, a guide to the French used in the novel, and any other material which might be helpful in better understanding this novel.
Guide to Vocabulary (incomplete)[edit]
- Foreword
- Preambulates: To walk before.
- Coronary thrombosis: A blood clot inside the heart vessels; a type of heart attack.
- Solecism: Any error, impropriety, or inconsistency.
- Tenacious: Characterized by keeping a firm hold.
- Cognomen: Surname; nickname.
- Sordid: Depraved; ignoble; morally base.
- Exasperatingly: To irritate or provoke to a high degree; annoy extremely.
- Etiolated: To cause to become weakened or sickly; drain of color or vigour.
- Platitudinous: Characterized by platitudes; dull, flat, or trite.
- Robust: Strong; healthy; hardy.
- Philistine: A person who is lacking in or hostile or smugly indifferent to cultural values, intellectual pursuits, aesthetic refinement, etc., or is contentedly commonplace in ideas and tastes.
- Banal: Devoid of freshness or originality.
- Qualm: An uneasy feeling or pang of conscience as to conduct; compunction.
- Prude: A person who is excessively proper or modest in speech, conduct, dress, etc.
- Aphrodisiac: An agent that arouses sexual desire.
- Apotheosis: The ideal example; epitome; quintessence.
- Abject: Utterly hopeless, miserable, humiliating, or wretched; contemptible; despicable.
- Jocularity: Characterized by joking.
- Conducive: Contributive; helpful; favourable.
- Capricious: Subject to, led by, or indicative of whim; prone to changing one’s mind without notice.
- Tendresse: Tender feeling; fondness.
- Expiatory: able to make atonement or restitution.
- Poignant: Profoundly moving; touching; keen or strong in mental and/or emotional appeal.
- Potent: Powerful; mighty
- Chapter 1
- Chapter 2
- Chapter 3
- Peripheral: unimportant
- Plurality: many
- Solipsism: The theory that the self is the only thing that can be known and verified.
- Imbibe: To take in
- Assimilate: To incorporate
- Paroxysm: A random or sudden outburst
- Opalescent: Exhibiting a milky iridescence like that of an opal.
- Rampart: A defensive structure; a protective barrier; a bulwark.
- Staid: Serious, organized, and professional; sober
- Ribald: Coarsely, vulgarly or lewdly humorous
- Typhus: One of several similar diseases caused by Rickettsiae bacteria. Not to be confused with typhoid fever.
Guide to French (incomplete)[edit]
- Foreword
- No French phrases
- Part One
- Chapter 2
- (p10) Mon cher petit papa: My dear little dad.
- (p11) Lycée: The second and last stage of secondary education in the French educational system; high school.
- Chapter 3
- (p12) Plage: A sandy bathing beach at a seashore resort.
- (p13) Chocolat glacé: Chocolate ice cream.
- Chapter 5
- (p15) Manqué: Lit. missed, might be used for someone who could have become something but didn't, or somebody who was a failure at something. In the case of the book it means more 'lacking'; he's referring to those who lack talent See the Wikipedia article on manqué for a full meaning.
- (p16) Histoire Abrégée de la poésie anglaise: A Brief History of English Poetry.
- (p20) Enfant charmante et fourbe: Charming and cheating child
- Chapter 6
- (p21) Frétillement: wriggling.
- (p21) Cent: one hundred.
- (p21) Tant pis: Oh well (literal: So much piss).
- (p21) Monsieur: sir, mister; a John (patronizer of prostitutes).
- (p22) Bidet: A fixture similar in design to a toilet that is straddled for washing the genitals and the anal area.
- (p22) Petit Cadeau: small gift (the money exchanged).
- (p22) Dix-huit: Eighteen.
- (p22) Oui, ce n'est pas bien: Yes, this is not good.
- (p22) Grues: cranes; slang for prostitute, from the observation that cranes (both the bird and the lifting machine), like prostitutes on the street corner, stand on one leg.
- (p22) Il était malin, celui qui a inventé ce truc-là: The one who invented that thing was clever.
- (p22) Posé un lapin: to stand someone up (for a date).
- (p22) Tu est bien gentil de dire ça: You are very kind to say that.
- (p22) Avant qu'on se couche: Before we lay down (before we have sex).
- (p23) Je vais m'acheter des bas: I'm going to buy myself some stockings.
- (p23) Regardez-moi cette belle brune: Do look at that beautiful brunette.
- (p23) Qui pourrait arranger la chose: Who could arrange the thing.
- (p24) Son argent: Her money.
- (p24) Lui: Him.
- Chapter 7
- (p25) Mes malheurs: My misfortunes.
- (p25) Français moyen: Average Frenchman.
- Chapter 8
- (p25) Pot-au-feu: Beef stew.
- (p25) À la gamine: Like a playful, mischievous girl.
- (p26) mairie: Town/City hall.
- (p26) baba: (type of cake).
- (p26) Paris-Soir: (large-circulation daily newspaper in Paris, France from 1923-1944).
- (p27) Mon oncle d'Amérique: My uncle from America.
- (p27) préfecture: (administrative jurisdiction or subdivision in any of various countries and within some international church structures).
- (p28) Mais qui est-ce?: But who is it?
- (p28) Jean Christophe:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Christophe
- (p29) j'ai denabbde pardonne: excuse me.
- (p29) est-ce que j'ai puis: I wish I could do it.
- (p29) le gredin: The rogue/rascal.
- Chapter 2
Online Resources[edit]
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