Mother/fatherhood and Sanity?

"I could of course visualize Lolita with hallucinational lucidity; and nursing as I did a triangle on my breastbone at the exact spot her silky top had come into contact once or twice with my heart; and feeling as I did her warm weight in my lap (so that, in a sense, I was always "with Lolita" as a woman is "with child"), I was not surprised to discover later that my computation had been more or less correct." -p 107

This passage is one example of those that play a key role in the novel. It reminds us, with the example of being "with child," that Humbert Humbert is no ordinary pedophile. He is a pervert, yes, but he's also crazy. He compares himself to a pregnant woman here, demonstrating his need for control and possession and anything to be close to Lo, his obsessive love and now, questionably, daughter. Per usual, his logic is not clear here. Why does he also want to be a father figure to the one he lusts after? Can he control his awful urges of lust to Lolita or is it actually the result of some childhood trauma or strange need for control or a child-like relationship?

Perhaps he cannot control his urges, as they occur so frequently throughout the novel. You can never read too long without coming becoming uncomfortable with a subtle or entirely too blunt description of Lolita with an inappropriate response of Humbert's body to it, as his "breastbone" with "her warm weight in [his] lap." More likely though, Nabokov uses these instances to remind us of his filth and constant lust and desires. It keeps us from ever viewing Humbert as the hero or rooting for him to succeed. This makes us question the purpose for the novel and what Nabokov wants our response to be. Are we supposed to sympathize with Humbert, and if not what is the point in reading a disgusting pedophile's thoughts? Are we supposed to see a real love here? But how can we see this as a love novel with the constant interruptions of pedophiliac lust? It is much more complex than love or lust, but Nabokov presents us with tough decisions in every page about our response to this Humbert Humbert.