Quilty makes his first onstage appearance at The Enchanted Hunters, just before Humbert beds Lolita for the first time. Yet rumors and allusions precede him. Does the revelation of Quilty’s identity come as a surprise? Is it the true climax of Lolita? How does Nabokov prepare us for this revelation? Since the mystery of Quilty’s identity turns this novel into a kind of detective story (in which the protagonist is both detective and criminal), it may be useful to compare Lolita to other examples of the genre, such as Poe’s “The Purloined Letter,” Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes stories, or Agatha Christie’s A Murder Is Announced, all of which are alluded to in the text.
Quilty’s identity is less a twist than the solution to a carefully constructed puzzle. Nabokov has been preparing us with scattered clues and playful misdirection. The confrontation with Quilty is the novel’s resolution of the pursuit plot, while the emotional climax lies in Humbert’s belated recognition of Lolita’s authentic self. By weaving surprise with the inevitable, Nabokov provides the revelation with intellectual satisfaction and a powerful message.