To Amanda

Perhaps the great genius of Nabokov can be seen in the way he creates his "coward at heart". Not one to defend the actions of a pedophile, I would rather focus on the creation of one. H. H. draws the reader in to his story, the detective novel to which he could be said to be both the pro- and antagonist. Can just any author make a coward so interesting? I couldn't put the book down during the first reading trying to solve the "mystery" before reaching the end, where all would be reveled anyways. This second reading has been very informative, and I'm glad that I had first read Lolita in an un-annotated copy from the library (for I must confess that I am a shameless cheat, and probably would have read the annotations first had I the option).