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. With original contributions from a cast of twenty-first century writers and edited by the daughter of Lolita's original publisher in America, Lolita in the Afterlife is a collection of modern pieces on this perennially provocative book.
[An] engrossing collection of smart and thoughtful essays by an array of contemporary writers reckoning with this indelible and shocking novel ... A number of books about Nabokov and Lolita have been published in the last few years, but Lolita in the Afterlife seems to be the first to wholly reassess the work’s legacy as our society grapples with the harm caused by white male privilege and the age-old propensity to look the other way. All tallied, the book’s 30 essays (as well as Quigley’s own incisive introduction) are, by necessity, contradictory, bracing, uncomfortable, thought provoking, informative, entertaining and, in the end, inconclusive—not unlike Lolita itself.
Former book editor Minton Quigley (The Early Birds) brings together 30 thought-provoking essays inspired by Nabokov’s famous 1955 novel ... The essays are uniformly enjoyable, and readers will find this collection full of welcome perspectives on a literary classic.
