The numbers 342, 42 and 52 recur in Lolita. 342 Lawn Avenue is the address of the Haze house in Ramsdale. 42 is the number of the room at The Enchanted Hunters where Humbert first rapes Lolita. Humbert is 42 at the time of his death. The number 52 also recurs. All the main characters die in 1952. Clare Quilty claims to have written 52 plays. There are 52 cards in a deck, and a deck of cards is often considered a symbol of fate. These numbers have no exact meaning as symbols, but they suggest an almost mystical pattern behind the novel’s plot—a common device in Nabokov’s novels.
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342, 42 and 52 Symbol Timeline in Lolita
The timeline below shows where the symbol 342, 42 and 52 appears in Lolita. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Foreword
...in by a criminal. Ray informs his readers that this criminal died on November 16th, 1952, while in “legal captivity,”—just days before his trial was scheduled to begin. Faithful to the...
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Part 2, Chapter 23
...nearly four months trying to track down the man Lolita ran off with. He visits 342 hotels, motels, etc., and at each of them, he checks the guest register for evidence....
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Part 2, Chapter 35
...warns Humbert to “stop trifling with life and death,” remarking that as the author of fifty-two plays, he knows a lot about both. Humbert and Quilty both go for the gun,...
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