Lolita in the Afterlife
On Beauty, Risk, and Reckoning with the Most Indelible and Shocking Novel of the Twentieth Century
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
A vibrant collection of sharp and essential modern pieces on Vladimir Nabokov’s perennially provocative book—with original contributions from a stellar cast of prominent twenty-first century writers.
In 1958, Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita was published in the United States to immediate controversy and bestsellerdom. More than sixty years later, this phenomenal novel generates as much buzz as it did when originally published. Central to countless issues at the forefront of our national discourse—art and politics, race and whiteness, gender and power, sexual trauma—Lolita lives on, in an afterlife as blinding as a supernova.
Lolita in the Afterlife is edited by the daughter of Lolita’s original publisher in America.
WITH CONTRIBUTIONS BY
Robin Givhan • Aleksandar Hemon • Jim Shepard • Emily Mortimer • Laura Lippman • Erika L. Sánchez • Sarah Weinman • Andre Dubus III • Mary Gaitskill • Zainab Salbi • Christina Baker Kline • Ian Frazier • Cheryl Strayed • Sloane Crosley • Victor LaValle • Jill Kargman • Lila Azam Zanganeh • Roxane Gay • Claire Dederer • Jessica Shattuck • Stacy Schiff • Susan Choi • Kate Elizabeth Russell • Tom Bissell • Kira Von Eichel • Bindu Bansinath • Dani Shapiro • Alexander Chee • Lauren Groff • Morgan Jerkins
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Former book editor Minton Quigley (The Early Birds) brings together 30 thought-provoking essays inspired by Nabokov's famous 1955 novel to provide "an enduring road map of how we think and talk about Lolita" in a post-#MeToo world. The essays examine Lolita from a variety of vantage points: in "Ugly Beautiful," Roxane Gay discusses the complexities and importance of writing about ugly things. Sarah Weinman, in "The Showgirl Who Discovered Lolita," details how Rosemary Ridgewell recommended that her lover, Walter Minton, president of G.P. Putnam's Sons, publish the novel. In "Maison Nymphette," Kate Elizabeth Russell recalls finding a community of young women in an early internet chat forum who all found inspiration in Lolita the character. The recurring theme is that while Lolita is critical of an American culture that objectifies and sexualizes young girls, it simultaneously helps to propagate those same ills; as novelist Lauren Groff writes, "Nabokov's most dazzling creation is both a truly towering work of genius and a profoundly poisonous thing that works in darkness and hurts in stealth." The essays are uniformly enjoyable, and readers will find this collection full of welcome perspectives on a literary classic. Correction: A previous version of this review misidentified the author's occupation.
