1950's The Arts | "On a Book Entitled Lolita"

Essay

By: Vladimir Nabokov

Date: June 1957

Source: Nabokov, Vladimir. "On a Book Entitled Lolita." The Anchor Review, June 1957. Reprinted in Lolita. New York: Vintage Books, 1989, 311–315.

About the Author: Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977) was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, and was educated in Western Europe. He wrote his early poetry, short stories, and novels in Russian. Emigrating to the United States in 1940, Nabokov published his first book in English, The Real Life of Sebastian Knight, the following year. His best-known novel, Lolita, created much controversy and is considered a twentieth-century classic. Nabokov taught literature at Wellesley, Stanford, and Cornell between 1941 and 1959. He was also an eminent lepidopterist (one who studies butterflies). He died in Montreux, Switzerland.

Introduction

Nabokov's story of...