Lolita
“Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul.”
Summary
A monster with the voice of a poet. The novel is the memoir of Humbert Humbert, a brilliant European scholar who becomes obsessed with a twelve-year-old American girl, Dolores Haze, whom he nicknames 'Lolita.' After marrying her mother to get close to her, he embarks on a cross-country road trip with his captive stepdaughter. Nabokov constructs a dazzling hall of mirrors, using Humbert's seductive, high-flown language to distract the reader from the horror of his crimes. It is a satire of American culture, a detective story, and a tragedy, all wrapped in prose of iridescent beauty. It challenges the reader to separate the art from the artist, and the beauty of the telling from the ugliness of the tale.
Why Read This?
A test of your moral compass. It forces you to confront the uncomfortable truth that art can be beautiful even when its subject is hideous. The most beautifully written nightmare in existence. Nabokov plays with your sympathies like a cat with a mouse, making you complicit in Humbert’s delusion before devastating you with the reality of Lolita’s tragedy. It is a masterclass in the power of language to manipulate and deceive. To read it is to be seduced and then horrified by your own seduction.
About the Author
Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977) was a Russian-American novelist and lepidopterist (butterfly collector) known for his complex wordplay and synesthesia. Born into a wealthy Russian family, he fled the Bolshevik Revolution and lived in exile in Europe before moving to the United States. He wrote Lolita in English, his third language, displaying a mastery of prose that few native speakers have ever achieved. He remains the supreme stylist of modern literature, a writer who treated words like living things.
Reading Guide
Ranked #13 among the greatest books of all time, Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov has earned its place in the literary canon. Originally written in English and published in 1955, this challenging read from United States continues to resonate with readers today.
This book belongs to our Modern Mind and American Spirit collections, where you can discover more books that share its spirit and themes.
If you enjoy challenging reads like this one, you might also like Ulysses, or Moby-Dick.
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