--- title: Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov: Read TIME's Original Review of the Book description: The book was published in the U.S. on Aug. 18, 1958 canonical: https://time.com/3961443/review-lolita-1958/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-08-18T15:00:20.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:02:26.716Z article:section: History og:title: Read TIME's Original Review of 'Lolita' og:description: The book was published in the U.S. on Aug. 18, 1958 og:url: https://time.com/3961443/review-lolita-1958/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt52ffbac6971785cf/69885b3c8e060169aa4616c9/lolita.jpeg?branch=production&width=1080&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: LOLITA ANNIVERSARY og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read TIME's Original Review of 'Lolita' twitter:description: The book was published in the U.S. on Aug. 18, 1958 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt52ffbac6971785cf/69885b3c8e060169aa4616c9/lolita.jpeg?branch=production&width=1080&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read TIME's Original Review of _Lolita_  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Aug 18, 2015 3:00 PM CUT  A Vintage/Anchor Books edition of "Lolita" A Vintage/Anchor Books edition of "Lolita"AP  by [Lily Rothman](/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Aug 18, 2015 3:00 PM CUT By the time Vladimir Nabokov’s _Lolita_ was published in the United States on this day, Aug. 18, in 1958, the book wasn’t exactly new. As TIME reported in a long review of the work upon its American release, Nabokov had come to the U.S. during World War II with “intellectual luggage \[that\] included fragments of a book that later, published in Paris in 1955, became a must item of the contraband spice trade in which Henry Miller’s _Tropics_ have bulked large.” But the fact that it had been read, dissected and debated didn’t stop it from making a splash. That much was clear from the review: --- > “” --- _Lolita_, the critic concluded, wasn’t merely a book worthy of publication _despite_ its subject matter—it was a work of literature with something to teach the world. Nabokov himself, TIME added, had only a “writer’s interest in nymphets.” It was a different part of the _Lolita_ plot that he had a real personal interest in: the journey from motel to motel. “I love motels,” he told the magazine. “I would like to have a chain of motels—made of marble. I would put one every ten minutes along the highway, and I would travel from one to another with my butterfly net.” **_Read the full review here, in the TIME Vault:_** [To the End of Night](http://time.com/vault/issue/1958-09-01/page/64/ "undefined") ### Vlad the (Insect) Impaler: LIFE With Nabokov and His Butterflies  Vladimir Nabokov looks at a butterfly, Ithaca, N.Y., 1958. Carl Mydans—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Vladimir Nabokov and his wife Vera chase butterflies near Six Mile Creek, Ithaca, N.Y., 1958. Carl Mydans—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Vladimir Nabokov hunts butterflies, Ithaca, N.Y., 1958. Carl Mydans—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Vladimir Nabokov hunts butterflies, Ithaca, N.Y., 1958. Carl Mydans—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Vladimir Nabokov hunts butterflies, Ithaca, N.Y., 1958. Carl Mydans—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Vera Nabokov, wife of Vladimir Nabokov, with a butterfly net, Ithaca, N.Y., 1958. Carl Mydans—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Vladimir Nabokov hunts butterflies, Ithaca, N.Y., 1958. Carl Mydans—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Vladimir Nabokov puts a butterfly into an envelope, Ithaca, N.Y., 1958. Carl Mydans—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Vladimir Nabokov and butterfly, Ithaca, N.Y., 1958. Carl Mydans—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Vladimir Nabokov, Ithaca, N.Y., 1958. Carl Mydans—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Vladimir Nabokov and collection of butterflies, Ithaca, N.Y., 1958. Carl Mydans—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Vladimir Nabokov mounting his butterflies, Ithaca, N.Y., 1958. Carl Mydans—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Part of Vladimir Nabokov's butterfly collection, Ithaca, N.Y., 1958. 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