Lolita

Lolita is a novel by Vladimir Nabokov, first published in 1955. The novel is both famous for its innovative style and infamous for its controversial subject. The novel's narrator and main character, Humbert Humbert, becomes sexually obsessed with a prepubescent girl.

Influence

Lolita has been filmed twice: the first adaptation was made in 1962 by Stanley Kubrick, and starred James Mason, Shelley Winters, Peter Sellers and, as Lolita, Sue Lyon; and a second adaptation in 1997 by Adrian Lyne, starring Jeremy Irons, Dominique Swain, and Melanie Griffith. Nabokov was nominated for an Academy Award for his work on the earlier film's adapted screenplay, although little of this work reached the screen.

Related Topics:
The first adaptation - 1962 - Stanley Kubrick - James Mason - Shelley Winters - Peter Sellers - Sue Lyon - Second adaptation - 1997 - Adrian Lyne - Jeremy Irons - Dominique Swain - Melanie Griffith - Academy Award - Screenplay

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The book was adapted into a Broadway musical in the early 1970s by Alan Jay Lerner under the title Lolita My Love. Critics were surprised at how sensitively the story was translated into what can be a crass medium, but the show nonetheless closed on the road before it opened in New York.

Related Topics:
Broadway musical - Alan Jay Lerner - New York

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In 1982, Edward Albee adapted the book into a nonmusical play. It was savaged by critics (Frank Rich notably attributing the temporary death of Albee's career to it).

Related Topics:
Edward Albee - Play - Frank Rich

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The term lolita has come to be used to refer to an adolescent girl considered to be very seductive, especially one younger than the age of consent. In the marketing of pornography, it has been used to refer to any attractive woman who has only recently reached, or is still younger than, the age of consent, or sometimes to refer to women who only appear to be younger than the age of consent. For this reason, it is especially worth noting that Nabokov's Lolita is far from an endorsement of pedophilia, since it dramatizes the tragic consequences of Humbert's obsession with the young heroine. Nabokov himself described Humbert as "a hateful person" (see Humbert Humbert). In Strong Opinions, Nabokov opines that he is "probably responsible" for parents not naming their children "Lolita" anymore. Indeed, the town of Lolita, Texas nearly changed its name after the novel gained notoriety.

Related Topics:
Age of consent - Pornography - Pedophilia - Humbert Humbert - Strong Opinions - Lolita, Texas

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In the book itself, "Lolita" is specifically the name of the girl, and "nymphet" is the general term for the type of young girl to whom Humbert is attracted. However, commerce has preferred to use the girl's name, and to make "lolitas" attractive (in film adaptations and pornography) to a much wider audience than the small number of "nympholepts" (ephebophiles) which Humbert Humbert believes to exist. In the novel, Dolores Haze is attractive to the aging nympholepts Humbert and Quilty, as well as to her coevals, while her spiteful mother describes her as plain at best.

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