Narrative Style in Lolita

Although Nabokov's style of writing in Lolita does not directly correlate with the established definition of stream of consciousness, there are certain elements of this style that exists. At first glance, it may seem more obvious how this narrative deviates from stream of consciousness. Humbert's personal narration is much more structured and stylized, on account of his own personal pride of being an esteemed literary intellectual. His ability to seduce his readers through his eloquence and writing initially lends him credibility. On the the contrary, the narrator of Tropic of Cancer details his ventures in a much looser structure, thus more closely following the stream of consciousness style of writing. Even though Humbert's discourse admittedly follows conventional linguistic standards, he also inadvertently reveals evidence regarding his mentality, such as when he switches from referring to himself from the first person to the third person.

There are incidences when Humbert vulnerably slips further into the overwhelmingly lure of his subconsciousness. This is particularly evident in Part 2, chapter 2, when Humbert travels with Lolita around the country. Although still maintaining the grammatical structure that he is so adamant on, Humbert unintentionally allows himself to slip further into stream of consciousness. His sentences become somewhat less coherent as he struggles to remember everything that has occurred within the depths of his memory. Humbert's frequent usage of the word, "pubescent" is especially revealing. When describing their exploration of the world's largest stalagmite, he states that admission for "adults [is] one dollar, pubescent sixty cents." By using "pubescent", he applies a sexual connotation to what otherwise could be referred to as "youths." Later, he describes one of the motels at Utah as being "surrounded by pubescent trees [that] were scarcely taller than my Lolita." By referring to everything that is youthful as "pubescent", Humbert reveals further about his psychologically abnormal mindset. Even though Nabokov disapproves of psychoanalysis, his novel, Lolita, is reaped with latent psychological tendencies that would set Freud's mind in a whirlwind.

Stream of consciousness is often used with protagonists who are psychologically unstable, which applies to people of all types, because nobody is ever completely mentally sound all of the time. For instance, William Faulkner uses this style for the mentally retarded Benjy Compson in The Sound and the Fury, and it was also used in James Joyce's semiautobiographical novel, A Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man.