Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0005226, Wed, 28 Jun 2000 09:28:59 -0700

Subject
Alfred Appel's ANNOTATED LOLOTA (fwd)
Date
Body
From: sam schuman <schumans@mrs.umn.edu>

I worked for Alfred Appel as a TA at Northwestern University in 1968 or so.
After I finished my doctorate, my family and I went to England for a month,
and stayed at the Yorkshire home of another collegue from NU's English
Department. There, I ran across THE ANNOTATED LOLITA. I had peeked at
LOLITA as a curious and charmingly naive, lustful high schooler, and been,
as most were, disappointed that the darn thing seemed to be "literature"
rather than lewd. That rather wet summer in Yorkshire, I picked up Appel's
edition, just as a matter of curiosity, and was hooked for good. I
devoured the book, then bought everything available in the bookshops in
Beverly (PALE FIRE, SPEAK, MEMORY, and PNIN), the market town where we were
staying. I guess my point is, that at least for one reader, THE ANNOTATED
LOLITA opened the door.

Sam

Samuel Schuman
Chancellor
The University of Minnesota, Morris
Morris, MN 56267
schumans@caa.mrs.umn.edu
320-589-6015