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Bagration Island: [Lolita] Folio compiled by Melanie Weiss containing over 800 pictures of penises. Clare Quilty offers this book to Humbert as part of a bribe for his life.
Bailey, Benjamin: [Lolita] (1791-1853) The friend to whom Keats sent letters about his poetic theories. Humbert publishes an article on the Proustian theme of those letters.
Barbara: [Lolita] Lolita went rowing with her while at Camp Q. Her sister was the camp Waterfront Director.
Basque: [Lolita] An obscure language spoken by the largely bilingual Basques which has been largely replaced by French and Spanish. Humbert describes one of the nurses in the hospital as being of Basque descent, and he believes he is being plotted against in an obscure language such as Basque or Zemfirian so that he might be kept from Lolita.
Beale, Frederick Jr.: [Lolita] Driver of the black Packard that strikes and kills Charlotte Haze.
Beard, Miss: [Lolita] A woman looking for Dr. Braddock at The Enchanted Hunters. Quite a name for a lady.
Beardsley, Aubrey (Vincent): [Lolita] The name of Humbert and Lolita's college town serves as Nabokov's tribute to Vincent Beardsley (1872-1898), the English illustrator of the late Victorian era. After Oscar Wilde, he was the major figure in the Aestheticism movement. Over the course of his lifetime he provided artwork for such pieces as Wilde's Salome, and Malory's Morte d'Arthur as well as illustrations for editions of Volpone, Lysistrata, The Rape of the Lock, and Under the Hill. Much of his work was considered decadent, even scandalous for his time. He enjoyed erotic art as he garnered a special liking for painting excessively large sexual organs.
Beardsley: [Lolita] The college town to which Humbert and Lolita retire. It has three major educational fixtures: the first is a girls' day school which Humbert hopes will be a "high-class, non-coeducational one, with no modern nonsense," but which turns out to be more similar to a 'finishing school.' The second is the Beardsley College for Women, where Humbert believes he will be able to get a position with the help of Gaston Godin.
Beauté Humaine, La: [Lolita] Pichon's anatomy book Humbert resorts to while his father is away.
Belleau, Remy: [Lolita] (1528-1577) A poet of the French Renaissance; a quote from a poem of his appears on p.47 that refers to the female genitals.
Bert: [Lolita] A photographer on the Arctic Canada expedition who has highly coloured dreams.
Bill, a.k.a. Discreet Bill: [Lolita] The neighbor of the Schiller's at their Hunter Road residence; he lost his arm in Italy during World War II. He is helping Dick fix things in the yard when he makes his appearance, and later hurts his thumb whilst opening beers.
Bird, Avis: [Lolita] Her name means "Bird" Bird. She is the "heavy, unattractive, affectionate child" (285) for whom Dolores feels jealousy because of Avis' pure, unsexualized relationship with her father, Mr. Bird.
Bluebeard: [Lolita] The murderous husband in a fairy tale by Charles Perrault.
Bosch, Hieronymus: [Lolita] A fifteenth century Dutch painter whose works are characterized by grotesque, fantastic creatures mingling with human figures. Humbert describes Lolita playing doubles on the tennis court: "She moved like a fair angel among three horrible Boschian cripples" (235).
Botticelli's Venus: [Lolita] The Birth of Venus, a painting by Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510), depicts a modest Venus rising from the sea on a pastel-pink shell. Dolores is described as having "always looked like Botticelli's russet Venus, the same soft nose, the same blurred beauty" (270). The later reference to Lo's "Florentine breasts" (274) is also an evocation of this Venus.
Boyd, Dr.: [Lolita] Gave a talk while Humbert and Lolita were staying at The Enchanted Hunters.
Braddock, Mr., Dr.: [Lolita] Humbert is mistaken for this man at The Enchanted Hunters.
Brewster, Jack: [Lolita] A telephone worker that Clare Quilty mistakes Humbert for when Humbert comes to kill him. Jack has a brother with the same telephone company.
Briceland: [Lolita] Town in which The Enchanted Hunters is located.
Broughton, Hugh: [Lolita] (1549-1612) Puritan divine with an interest in Biblical chronology.
Browning, Robert: [Lolita] Humbert refers to, or quotes, Browning as he describes Lolita picking her dress out from her "peach-cleft." He went sixty miles to buy Browning's Dramatic Works among other book to take to Lolita in the hospital the last time that he went to see her.
Burke, Barbara: [Lolita] Girl at Camp Q who was two years older than Dolores and the best swimmer. She had intercourse behind a bush with Charlie Holmes every morning of July while Dolores stood watch, and finally Dolores decided to try it, too.
Butler's Academy for Boys: [Lolita] A single-sex day school in Beardsley.