Lolita

The most controversial classic novel of the 20th century, Lolita tells the story of Humbert. Humbert, a middle-aged man ... (more)

The most controversial classic novel of the 20th century, Lolita tells the story of Humbert. Humbert, a middle-aged man who is aroused to erotic desire only by a young girl. Awe and exhilaration--along with heartbreak and mordant wit--abound in Lolita, Nabokov's most famous and controversial novel, which tells the story of the aging Humbert. Humbert's obsessive, devouring, and doomed passion for the nymphet Dolores Haze. Lolita is also the story of a hypercivilized European colliding with the cheerful barbarism of postwar America. Most of all, it is a meditation on love--love as outrage and hallucination, madness and transformation. (less)

Humbert Humbert attempts to justify his love for and obsession with the barely adolescent Dolores Haze, known as Lolita.... (more)

Humbert Humbert attempts to justify his love for and obsession with the barely adolescent Dolores Haze, known as Lolita. Humbert's cross-country flight with his adored nymphet ends with her betrayal of him with his rival, the evil Quilty, who pursues Lolita not out of love but out of lust and selfishness, and who functions as a kind of double for the more pure-hearted (if perverse) Humbert. (less)

When it was published in 1955, Lolita immediately became a cause celebre because of the freedom and sophistication with ... (more)

When it was published in 1955, Lolita immediately became a cause celebre because of the freedom and sophistication with which it handled the unusual erotic predilections of its protagonist. But Vladimir Nabokov's wise, ironic, elegant masterpiece owes its stature as one of the twentieth century's novels of record not to the controversy its material aroused but to its author's use of that material to tell a love story almost shocking in its beauty and tenderness. Awe and exhilaration--along with heartbreak and mordant wit--abound in this account of the aging Humbert Humbert's obsessive, devouring, and doomed passion for the nymphet Dolores Haze. Lolita is also the story of a hypercivilized European colliding with the cheerful barbarism of postwar America, but most of all, it is a meditation on love--love as outrage and hallucination, madness and transformation. (less)

Provides in-depth analysis of the literary work Lolita, as well as its importance and critical reception. Includes a chr... (more)

Provides in-depth analysis of the literary work Lolita, as well as its importance and critical reception. Includes a chronology of the life and works of the author. (less)

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An iconic adaptation of the Vladimir Nabokov Classic, starring Oscar Winner Jeremy Irons, Melanie Griffith and Dominique... (more)

An iconic adaptation of the Vladimir Nabokov Classic, starring Oscar Winner Jeremy Irons, Melanie Griffith and Dominique Swain, LOLITA tells a disturbing tale of tortured and forbidden love. Humber Humbert, a professor of French literature, travels to a small New England Town to take a teaching position, searching for lodging he visits the home of a single mother Charlotte and her 14 year old daughter Dolores (Lolita). Upon seeing Dolores, Humbert is immediately smitten. Knowing his desire is forbidden, he marries the clueless Charlotte in order to stay close to her daughter. (less)