The reader will regret to learn that soon after my return to civilization I had another bout with insanity (…). I owe my complete restoration to a discovery I made while being treated at that particular very expensive sanatorium. I discovered there was an endless source of robust enjoyment in trifling with psychiatrists: cunningly leading them on; never letting them see that you know all the tricks of the trade; inventing for them elaborate dreams, pure classics in style… (p. 34)
Humbert Humbert has secrets beside his lust for certain young girls he singles out as "nymphets." He is manipulating the reader much in the same way he manipulates young girls–and women. He married for appearance of stability. He uses prostitutes for legal relief of his needs. He plays the psychiatrists–by the way, this pretense of illness to extend the period of recuperation or merely to enjoy control of a situation is a common one with patients who indeed are clever enough and wily enough to maneuver through it to their benefit.
Nabokov has taken quite a chance with the subject matter of this novel, and it was not quite as horrifying or focused upon as it is in more recent years. But his purpose may be to shock by presenting it in a manner that makes us see it on a more intimate level. Making the reader accept the nature of man, of this man on one count, of every man in some manner that deviates from the norm.
The Lost Children: A Charity Anthology