is narrator, supporting the view that he encourages the reader to accept his monstrous male hero through the inconsistent portrayal of his character.

Alternatively, it could be argued that Nabokov does not encourage the reader to accept his unreliable narrator in Lolita, as there are consistent reminders of his changeableness and contradictory nature. Throughout the text, there are contradictory comments on Humbert’s ability to recall his memories, ranging from explicit references to his precise retelling, ‘I remember verbatim’, implying absolute accuracy, and direct verbal presentation indicating the exact nature of his narration, to the sibilant phrase ‘I feel my slippery self eluding me’ reflecting the escaping of his memory, and diegetic speech suggesting unreliability, implying that the memoir is written for entertainment rather than accuracy. The subjective narration used by Nabokov is an evident reflection of the postmodernism era of the early 20th Century, viewing literature as fluid rather than fixed, which is reflected in Humbert’s contradictory narration. Moreover, the reader is also continuously reminded of the narrator’s poor mental health, with frequent glimpses into his present situation in a mental asylum, ‘the opaque air of this tombal jail’. This clearly evidences Humbert’s inappropriate attachment, and the reader can see nothing more than his obsessive and paedophilic character, supporting the idea that they cannot accept him. Perhaps the most explicit evidence of his insanity is shown through the character of Quincy who symbolises Humbert’s inability to focus on the reality, and whose elusive and secret nature reveals the narrator’s paranoia and clear inability to reliably narrate. As a reader, we are unable to ascertain whether Nabokov intended Quincy to be a real character in the text or rather a ‘hallucination’ of Humbert’s, suggesting the loss of plot and pacing which makes both his character and narrative difficult to grasp. However, it could be said that Nabokov’s use of elaborate language conceals this insanity and distracts from Humbert’s crimes. The alliterative phrase ‘light of my life, fire of my loins’ is a clear example of the intense sexual imagery used to distract from the subject of paedophilia, focusing on the romanticised and slow rhythm of speech. In a similar way, focus on eloquent language is also shown in the line ‘the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth’, with the emphasis on linguistic speech distracting from the sensual imagery. Consequently, it is evident that, while it could be said that Nabokov’s constant reminders of his narrator’s unreliability warn his readership against accepting him, ultimately his focus on language distracts f