Publication Scandal

Five American publishers rejected Lolita before Olympia Press in Paris took it in 1955. Olympia was known for erotica, which first damaged the novel's reputation. Then Graham Greene named it one of the best books of the year, sparking a public debate that made it internationally notorious.

When Putnam published the American edition in 1958, it became the first novel since Gone with the Wind to sell 100,000 copies in three weeks. Once an obscure Cornell professor, Nabokov grew wealthy and moved to a Swiss hotel for the rest of his life.