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Lolita

By Vladimir Nabokov
Series: Vintage International
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Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Lolita is the provocative and haunting tale of Humbert Humbert's obsessive and doomed passion for the young nymphet Dolores Haze. Set against the backdrop of postwar America, it explores the clash between European refinement and American culture, unfolding as a meditation on love in its most unsettling, hallucinatory, and transformative forms.
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Format: Paperback / softback
$5200

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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

Lolita is suited for readers of literary fiction interested in complex psychological narratives and challenging themes, as well as those who appreciate exquisite language and darkly comic storytelling.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

A novel that studies the moral disintegration of a man whose obsessive desire to possess his step-daughter destroys the lives of those around him.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

The most famous and controversial novel from one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century tells the story of Humbert Humbert’s obsessive, devouring, and doomed passion for the nymphet Dolores Haze. With a new introduction by Claire Messud.

“The conjunction of a sense of humour with a sense of horror [results in] satire of a very special kind.” —The New Yorker

One of The Atlantic’s Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years

Awe and exhilaration—along with heartbreak and mordant wit—abound in Lolita, which tells the story of the aging Humbert Humbert's obsession for the nymphet Dolores Haze. Lolita is also the story of a hypercivilised 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.

Series: Vintage International

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  • Lolita
    Lolita
    The most famous and controversial novel from one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century tells the story of Humbert Humbert’s obsessive, devouring, and doomed passion for the nymphet Dolores Haze. With a new introduction by Claire Messud. “The conjunction of a sense of humour with a sense of horror [results in] satire of a very special kind.” —The...
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Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

The Atlantic Monthly praises Lolita as an "assertion of the power of the comic spirit" that merges farce with a disturbing narrative, highlighting Nabokov’s keen insight into human hypocrisy. Time calls it "intensely lyrical and wildly funny," while Vanity Fair names it "the only convincing love story of our century." According to The New Yorker, the book blends humour and horror to achieve a unique and profound satire.

Book Hero reading reviews

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780679723165

Publisher: Random House USA Inc

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 13 March 1989

Country: United States

Imprint: Vintage Books

Audience: General / adult, Tertiary education

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 19.0mm

Width: 131.0mm

Height: 202.0mm

Weight: 238g

Pages: 336

Collections

Classic Fiction Classic General Fiction Fiction General Fiction Literary Fiction Penguin Books Series: Vintage International Vladimir Nabokov

About the Author

VLADIMIR NABOKOV was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1899. After studying French and Russian literature at Trinity College, Cambridge, he launched his literary career in Berlin and Paris. In 1940 he moved to the United States, here he achieved renown as a novelist, poet, critic, and translator. Lolita, arguably his most famous novel, was first published, by the Olympia Press, Paris, on September 15, 1955, and became a controversial success. Nabokov died in Montreux Switzerland in 1977.

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