Wednesday, January 1, 1975

Vladimir Nabokov Lolita: Published 20 Years Ago This Year

Last updated 7/5/2020.

Lolita

Vladimir Nabokov

First Publication: 1955


Category: controversial sex-themed novel


Sales: 50 million

Accolades (click on badges to see full lists):

About the Book:

“Awe and exhilaration – along with heartbreak and mordant wit – abound in Lolita.” AZ The “novel written by Russian American novelist Vladimir Nabokov…is notable for its controversial subject: the protagonist and unreliable narrator, a middle-aged literature professor under the pseudonym Humbert Humbert is obsessed with a 12-year-old girl, Dolores Haze,” WK otherwise known as “Lolita,” his private nickname for her. WK He “becomes sexually involved after he becomes her stepfather.” WK

Lolita is also the story of a hypercivilized European colliding with the cheerful barbarism of postwar America. Most of all, it is a meditation on love – love as outrage and hallucination, madness and transformation.” AZ

“The novel was adapted into a film by Stanley Kubrick in 1962, and again in 1997 by Adrian Lyne. It has also been adapted several times for the stage and has been the subject of two operas, two ballets, and an acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful Broadway musical.” WK

“Its assimilation into popular culture is such that the name ‘Lolita’ has been used to imply that a young girl is sexually precocious.” WK


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