Lolita is a novel by
Vladimir Nabokov, written in
English and published in
1955 in
Paris and
1958 in
New York. It was later translated by its Russian-native author into
Russian. The novel is notable for its controversial subject: the protagonist and unreliable narrator, middle-aged literature professor and hebephile
Humbert Humbert, is obsessed with the 12-year-old
Dolores Haze, with whom he becomes sexually involved after he becomes her stepfather. "Lolita" is his private nickname for
Dolores.
The book is also notable for its writing style. The narrative is highly subjective as
Humbert draws on his fragmented memories, employing a sophisticated prose style, while attempting to gain the reader's sympathy through his sincerity and melancholy, although near the end of the story Humbert refers to himself as a "maniac" who "deprived" Dolores "of her childhood", and he shortly thereafter states "the most miserable of family lives was better than the parody of incest" in which they were involved.
After its publication, Lolita attained a classic status, becoming one of the best-known and most controversial examples of
20th century literature. The name "Lolita" has entered pop culture to describe a sexually precocious girl. The novel was adapted to film by
Stanley Kubrick in 1962, and again in
1997 by
Adrian Lyne. It has also been adapted several times for stage and has been the subject of two operas, two ballets, and an acclaimed but failed
Broadway musical.
Lolita is included on
Time's list of the
100 best
English-language novels from 1923 to
2005. It is fourth on the
Modern Library's
1998 list of the 100
Best Novels of the
20th century. It was also included as one of
The 100 Best
Books of All Time.
Lolita has been filmed twice, been a musical, four stage-plays, one completed opera, and two ballets. There is also
Nabokov's unfilmed (and re-edited) screenplay, an uncompleted opera based on the work, and an "imagined opera" which combines elements of opera and dance.
Lolita was made in 1962 by Stanley Kubrick, and starred
James Mason,
Shelley Winters,
Peter Sellers and
Sue Lyon as Lolita; Nabokov was nominated for an
Academy Award for his work on this film's adapted screenplay, although little of this work reached the screen; Stanley Kubrick and
James Harris substantially rewrote Nabokov's script, though neither took credit.
The film greatly expanded the character of
Clare Quilty, and removed all references to Humbert's obsession with young girls before meeting Dolores.
The
1997 film Lolita was directed by Adrian Lyne, starring
Jeremy Irons,
Dominique Swain, and
Melanie Griffith. It received mixed reviews. It was delayed for more than a year because of its controversial subject matter, and was not released in
Australia until
1999.
Multiple critics noted that this film removed all elements of dark comedy from the story. In
Salon,
Charles Taylor wrote that it "replaces the book's cruelty and comedy with manufactured lyricism and mopey romanticism."[66]
Nabokov's own re-edited and condensed version of the screenplay (revised
December 1973) he originally submitted for
Kubrick's film (before its extensive rewrite by Kubrick and
Harris) was published by McGraw-Hill in
1974. One new element is that Quilty's play
The Hunted Enchanter, staged at Dolores' high school, contains a scene that is an exact duplicate of a painting in the front lobby of the hotel,
The Enchanted Hunter, at which Humbert allows Lolita to seduce him.[67]
The book was adapted into a musical in
1971 by
Alan Jay Lerner and
John Barry under the title
Lolita, My Love. Critics praised the play for sensitively translating the story to the stage, but it nonetheless closed before it opened in New York.[68]
In
1982 Edward Albee adapted the book into a play, Lolita. It was savaged by critics,
Frank Rich notably predicting fatal damage to Albee's career.[69] Rich noted that the play's reading of the character of Quilty seemed to be taken from the Kubrick film.
- published: 02 May 2014
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