"Pub. USA, 1955, Lolita has exceeded 50 million copies in sales in the half-century since. It was a story of the selfish pursuit of a sensual ideal, Lolita herself little more than his fantasy."
"Short, Brutish and Nasty," as life has been descibed to be for some. Murdered is the final fate of this work's 14-year old heroine, the victim of brief, violent, one-sided lust."
"This lost 1935 novella by Nabokov - not published till after his death - has a more mundane outcome. Nabokov dealt in the subtleties of obsession, not its grossness."
"The young push relentlessly forward into wider life, and in this my second novel, 16-year old Zorn is harrased in the pursuit of utter coolness by the ambitions of 14-year old cousin Emma."
"Rite of Passage is a major literary theme, that perforce involves the young. However, it's not compulsory that kids lives and growing problems revolve around attempts at seduction by older people."
"However, the idea of the nymphet - to use Nabokov's phrase - being as likely to go looking for action as have it thrust upon them, is of perrenial interest...."
