Reader's Guide to Nabokov's 'Lolita'

Julian W. Connolly (Ph.D. Harvard University) is Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Virginia. He is the author of Nabokov's Early Fiction: Patterns of Self and Other (1992) and editor of Nabokov and His Fiction: New Perspectives (1999) and The Cambridge Companion to Nabokov (2005). He has published over sixty articles on Russian Literature.

• Abbreviations. Chronology of Nabokov’s Life and Career. Chronology of Lolita. Preface. Chapter One. The Creation of Lolita. Notes. Chapter Two. The Precursors of Lolita. Notes. Chapter Three. Approaching Lolita. Notes. Chapter Four. Who Was Dolly Haze? Notes. Chapter Five. Humbert’s Memoir, Nabokov’s Novel: A Reader’s Analysis. Foreword. Part One. Part Two. Notes. Chapter Six. Lolita’s Afterlife: Critical and Cultural Responses. Critical Reception. Cultural Responses. Notes. A Guide to Further Reading in English. Index.

"The importance of this book lies in the way it succinctly summarizes critical viewpoints yet provides a fresh and accessible interpretation of the novel… [Connolly] never claims to give a definitive reading of the book, only to try to help readers "grasp the full complexity and sweep of Nabokov's unique creation" (p.1), which he admirably achieves."