Vladimir Nabokov is your favorite author? Name five of his short stories written in Berlin in the 1930s. This week we look into how the author of Lolita's attempts at writing around the book's themes pre-dated his masterwork by several decades, the endless saga of getting Lolita published, some of the story’s earliest critical misinterpretations and the life of one of the 20th century’s best-regarded authors. Jamie speaks with Nabokovian Dana Dragunoiu and Nabokov's all-time biographer Brian Boyd.

Featuring the voices of Aziz Vora as Humbert Humbert, Robert Evans as Vladimir Nabokov, additional voice work from Anna Hossnieh, Shereen Lani-Younes, Grace Thomas, Isaac Taylor, and Miles Gray. Produced by Sophie Lichterman, Miles Gray, Beth-Anne Macaluso and Jack O'Brien. Editing by Isaac Taylor, additional editing by Ben Loftus. Written and hosted by Jamie Loftus.

Join our Discord for more discussion! https://discord.com/invite/TrXc6BkfpN

In this episode we talked about:

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

Nabokov in Russia by Brian Boyd

Nabokov in America by Brian Boyd

The Magician's Doubts by Michael Wood

Nabokov’s Women: The Silent Sisterhood of textual Nomads, edited by Elena Rakhimova-Sommers

Maurice Girodias (we didn't have time to cover him in depth here but the man is a piece of WORK): https://evergreenreview.com/read/lolita-and-mr-girodias/

Early reviews of Lolita: https://bookmarks.reviews/sick-scandalous-spectaular-the-first-reviews-of-lolita/

The Showgirl Who Discovered Lolita by Sarah Weinman: https://lithub.com/the-showgirl-who-discovered-lolita/

Vladimir Nabokov and the Poetics of Liberalism by Dana Dragunoiu: https://nupress.northwestern.edu/content/vladimir-nabokov-and-poetics-liberalism

The Enchanter by Vladimir Sirin (Nabokov)

Still Intrigued with Lolita: Nabokov's Visionary Work on Child Sexual Abuse by Lucia Williams: https://thenabokovian.org/sites/default/files/2018-06/NABOKV-L-0027757___Williams_2016_StillIntriguedWithLol_Lolita.pdf

Nabokov's Playboy Interview from 1964: http://reprints.longform.org/playboy-interview-vladimir-nabokov