Classics · DarkHumbert Humbert addresses the reader as a jury in a memoir about his obsession with a 12-year-old girl
Lolita
A memoir by an unreliable narrator, addressed to the reader as a jury
Humbert Humbert, a pseudonymous French literature professor, narrates the story, which is set largely in the United States and begins in New England. He presents it as a memoir addressed to the reader as a jury, and it centers on his obsession with a 12-year-old girl, Dolores Haze. Critics generally regard him as an unreliable narrator. Several American publishers rejected the manuscript, so Nabokov turned to Olympia Press in Paris, which published it in 1955. The first American edition came from G. P. Putnam's Sons in August 1958.
More about this book
Who
Humbert Humbert, who narrates, and Dolores Haze, whom he calls Lolita.
World
The United States, beginning in New England.
What makes it different
It is a memoir by an unreliable narrator. Several American publishers turned it down and it first appeared in Paris in 1955.
Feel
Disturbing and controversial. Critics still debate how to read it.
Page count and cover shown for: Selected edition
Further reading
- LolitaWikipedia