In chapter 8, section 2, Nabokov lists and describes successively the spellmasters that he's had as a child. Ordo comes first, next an unnamed Ukrainian, athletic Lett, then a Pole whom Nabokov refers to as Max because of his resemblance to a French actor, Max Linder. It's interesting the way he describes Max because Max is the first one that he actually liked. "Max lasted from 1908-1910 and won my admiration...I saw Max half-draw from an inside pocket a small automatic with which I forthwith fell in love." Nabokov is attracted to power and toughness. Nabokov has created an image of an idol in his head of a "tough guy" and a doer, and is surprised when signs of Max's "untoughness" shows and is "taken aback when [Max] complained of migraine and languidly refused to join me in kicking a football around or going for a dip in the river." Furthermore, Nabokov confesses, "I know now that he was having an affair that summer with a married woman whose property lay a dozen miles away." He was also subconsciously attracted to people who break the rules, and do things that they're not supposed to do.
