Overview:
Published in the year 1955 in Paris, “Lolita” is a novel written by Russian author, Vladimir Nabokov. It was later translated into Russian by him and the Russian version was released in the year 1958 in the city of New York. The novel was instantly popularized all over the world because of its innovative writing style and continues to remain popular even today. It is also considered to be a controversial novel because of its volatile subject.
Immediately after its release, “Lolita” was counted amongst classics because of its controversial topic, innovative writing and classic representation of 20th century literature. It also featured on TIME magazine’s list of 100 best English novels between the years 1923 and 2005 and on Modern Library’s list of hundred best novels in the 20th century.
Summary of the Plot:
The novel is written in an uncanny manner in which the narrator is highly unreliable. His name is Humbert Humbert and he falls in love with the 12 year old daughter of his landlady. He becomes infatuated with her but doesn’t approve of her interests. He marries her mother just for the sake of staying near the girl, whose name is Lolita, with the hope that he will be able to coax sexual favors out of her at some point of time. Lolita’s mother, Charlotte, gets killed in a car accident and she is left with Humbert. The rest of the story reveals how Humbert took care of her in returns for numerous sexual favors. In the end, Lolita deserts him and marries another person, who is later killed by Humbert.
Controversies and Reception:
As mentioned before, “Lolita” was an instant favorite amongst the masses the moment it was released. Numerous literary critics appreciated the innovative manner in which it was written. However, it was always under the constant scrutiny of the censors for its controversial topic of child molestation. In fact, Nabokov had finished writing the book in the year 1953 but failed to find a publisher in the United States. After encountering numerous refusals, Nabokov selected Olympia Press which was based in Paris, and published the book in the month of September in 1955.
