Lolita in america

A Symposium to Commemorate
50th Anniversary of the Publication of Lolita in the United States

Concludes with a Screening of Stanley Kubrick's Lolita

Morgan Acheson, Visualizing Lolita
Morgan Acheson, "Visualizing Lolita"

New York, August 4, 2008—On Saturday, September 27, The New School will present a day-long symposium to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the publication of Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita in the United States. Initially rejected by American editors (one editor recommended that “it be buried under a stone for a thousand years”), Lolita appeared under a little-known imprint in Paris in 1955. It was 1958 before this provocative “time bomb” found an American publisher.

“It’s so fitting that The New School, with its long and distinguished history of embracing scholars and thinkers from around the world, should host this event. The participation of a wide range of disciplines from across the university reflects the enormous impact that Lolita has had on our cultural life,” said Linda Dunne, dean, The New School for General Studies.

For a full listing of Fall New School Literary Programs click here.

Speakers will include Alfred Appel, author of The Annotated Lolita and Nabokov’s Dark Cinema; Leland de la Durantaye, author of Style is Matter: The Moral Art of Vladimir Nabokov; Laura Frost, author of Sex Drives; Fred Hills, former editor-in-chief of McGraw-Hill and Nabokov's editor in the last decade of his life; Nina Khrushcheva, author of Imagining Nabokov: Russia Between Art and Politics; Dominic Pettman, author of Love and Other Technologies; Ellen Pifer, author of Nabokov and the Novel, Demon or Doll, and Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita: A Casebook; acclaimed journalist Ron Rosenbaum; and Lila Azam Zanganeh, literary journalist and Nabokov scholar. For a complete list of speakers and bios, please visit: http://www.newschool.edu/lolitaconference.

Panelists will discuss Lolita in the context of American literature, U.S. publishing in the 1950s, and world literature. Ellen Pifer will shed light on the controversies and the remarkable achievement of Nabokov's American masterpiece. Fred Hills will describe his first encounter with Lolita and his eventual collaborations with the author.  Alfred Appel will discuss his studies with Nabokov at Cornell and the cultural context of the 1940s and 50s. Nina Khrushcheva will share her first reactions to Lolita as a Russian twelve-year-old and her experiences teaching Lolita in Russia after her own immigration to the United States. Dominic Pettman will discuss the technologies of love in Nabokov's novel.

Lolita in America is particularly well-timed. With the collaboration of the Nabokov estate, a panel of journalists and scholars will explore Lolita's possible relationship with The Original of Laura—Nabokov's final unfinished, unpublished, and, in line with the author's wishes, almost-burned novel—which is only now slated for publication.

The symposium will conclude with a screening of Stanley Kubrick’s film version of Lolita released in 1962. The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Writing of an Adapted Screenplay, and Sue Lyon, who played the title role, won a Golden Globe for Best Newcomer Actress.

This symposium is sponsored by the Department of Humanities at The New School for General Studies in partnership with The New School Writing Program, The New School Bachelor's Program, the Department of Foreign Languages, the Graduate Program in International Affairs, the Department of Media Studies and Film, and the Eugene Lang College Department of Writing and Literature.  For further information, please visit: http://www.newschool.edu/events or contact 212.229.5353.

Admission is free but registration is required by September 21, 2008. Please email [email protected] to register.

“Visualizing Lolita,” an exhibition of works by students from Parsons The New School for Design, will be held at its Illustration Department, 2 West 13th Street (at 5th Avenue), 8th floor, from September 24 through October 26, 2008. Created in conjunction with Lolita In America, the original works in this exhibition represent students’ responses to the characters and themes of Nabokov's novel. The show was organized by Parsons Illustration faculty member and mixed-media artist Jordin Isip.

ABOUT THE UNIVERSITY

Located in the heart of New York’s Greenwich Village, The New School is a center of academic excellence where intellectual and artistic freedoms thrive. The nearly 9,400 matriculated students and approximately 5,280 continuing education students who attend the university’s eight schools enjoy a disciplined education supported by small class sizes, superior resources, and renowned working faculty members who practice what they teach. The eight schools of the university are: The New School for General Studies, The New School for Social Research, Milano The New School for Management and Urban Policy, Parsons The New School for Design, Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts, Mannes College The New School for Music, The New School for Drama, and The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music. For more information, please visit www.newschool.edu.

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Editor's Note: Click here for a full release including symposium schedule and panelists.