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Plays: Lolita: A Screenplay; The Tragedy of Mister Morn
Nabokov's rapturous masterpiece of erotic obsession entered the common consciousness and inspired two films. It also inspired Nabokov himself to try his hand at screenwriting, and the result was this typically graceful and ingenious screenplay, which he wrote in 1960. A Screenplay gleefully demolishes a host of stereotypes - sexual, moral and aesthetic. The notion that cinema and literature are two separate spheres is dismantled as Nabokov marries the structural and narrative felicities of great film and prose to create a work that will delight cineophiles and Nabokovians alike.
Nabokov's first major work and his only play, The Tragedy of Mister Morn is a moving study of the elusiveness of happiness, the power of imagination and the eternal battle between truth and fantasy. In this astonishingly precocious work, we see for the first time the major themes of this great intense sexual desire and jealousy, precarious make-believe, glittering happiness and abject despair.
Part of a major new beautiful hardback series of the works of Vladimir Nabokov, author of Pnin and Pale Fire, in Penguin Classics.
Nabokov's first major work and his only play, The Tragedy of Mister Morn is a moving study of the elusiveness of happiness, the power of imagination and the eternal battle between truth and fantasy. In this astonishingly precocious work, we see for the first time the major themes of this great intense sexual desire and jealousy, precarious make-believe, glittering happiness and abject despair.
Part of a major new beautiful hardback series of the works of Vladimir Nabokov, author of Pnin and Pale Fire, in Penguin Classics.
522 pages, Hardcover
First published September 1, 2012
About the author
Vladimir Nabokov
865 books15.3k followersVladimir Nabokov (Russian: Владимир Набоков) was a writer defined by a life of forced movement and extraordinary linguistic transformation. Born into a wealthy, liberal aristocratic family in St. Petersburg, Russia, he grew up trilingual, speaking Russian, English, and French in a household that nurtured his intellectual curiosities, including a lifelong passion for butterflies. This seemingly idyllic, privileged existence was abruptly shattered by the Bolshevik Revolution, which forced the family into permanent exile in 1919. This early, profound experience of displacement and the loss of a homeland became a central, enduring theme in his subsequent work, fueling his exploration of memory, nostalgia, and the irretrievable past.
The first phase of his literary life began in Europe, primarily in Berlin, where he established himself as a leading voice among the Russian émigré community under the pseudonym "Vladimir Sirin". During this prolific period, he penned nine novels in his native tongue, showcasing a precocious talent for intricate plotting and character study. Works like The Defense explored obsession through the extended metaphor of chess, while Invitation to a Beheading served as a potent, surreal critique of totalitarian absurdity. In 1925, he married Véra Slonim, an intellectual force in her own right, who would become his indispensable partner, editor, translator, and lifelong anchor.
The escalating shadow of Nazism necessitated another, urgent relocation in 1940, this time to the United States. It was here that Nabokov undertook an extraordinary linguistic metamorphosis, making the challenging yet resolute shift from Russian to English as his primary language of expression. He became a U.S. citizen in 1945, solidifying his new life in North America. To support his family, he took on academic positions, first founding the Russian department at Wellesley College, and later serving as a highly regarded professor of Russian and European literature at Cornell University from 1948 to 1959.
During this academic tenure, he also dedicated significant time to his other great passion: lepidoptery. He worked as an unpaid curator of butterflies at Harvard University's Museum of Comparative Zoology. His scientific work was far from amateurish; he developed novel taxonomic methods and a groundbreaking, highly debated theory on the migration patterns and phylogeny of the Polyommatus blue butterflies, a hypothesis that modern DNA analysis confirmed decades later.
Nabokov achieved widespread international fame and financial independence with the publication of Lolita in 1955, a novel that was initially met with controversy and censorship battles due to its provocative subject matter concerning a middle-aged literature professor and his obsession with a twelve-year-old girl. The novel's critical and commercial success finally allowed him to leave teaching and academia behind. In 1959, he and Véra moved permanently to the quiet luxury of the Montreux Palace Hotel in Switzerland, where he focused solely on writing, translating his earlier Russian works into meticulous English, and studying local butterflies.
His later English novels, such as Pale Fire (1962), a complex, postmodern narrative structured around a 999-line poem and its delusional commentator, cemented his reputation as a master stylist and a technical genius. His literary style is characterized by intricate wordplay, a profound use of allusion, structural complexity, and an insistence on the artist's total, almost tyrannical, control over their created world. Nabokov often expressed disdain for what he termed "topical trash" and the simplistic interpretations of Freudian psychoanalysis, preferring instead to focus on the power of individual consciousness, the mechanics of memory, and the intricate, often deceptive, interplay between art and perceived "reality". His unique body of work, straddling multiple cultures and languages, continues to
The first phase of his literary life began in Europe, primarily in Berlin, where he established himself as a leading voice among the Russian émigré community under the pseudonym "Vladimir Sirin". During this prolific period, he penned nine novels in his native tongue, showcasing a precocious talent for intricate plotting and character study. Works like The Defense explored obsession through the extended metaphor of chess, while Invitation to a Beheading served as a potent, surreal critique of totalitarian absurdity. In 1925, he married Véra Slonim, an intellectual force in her own right, who would become his indispensable partner, editor, translator, and lifelong anchor.
The escalating shadow of Nazism necessitated another, urgent relocation in 1940, this time to the United States. It was here that Nabokov undertook an extraordinary linguistic metamorphosis, making the challenging yet resolute shift from Russian to English as his primary language of expression. He became a U.S. citizen in 1945, solidifying his new life in North America. To support his family, he took on academic positions, first founding the Russian department at Wellesley College, and later serving as a highly regarded professor of Russian and European literature at Cornell University from 1948 to 1959.
During this academic tenure, he also dedicated significant time to his other great passion: lepidoptery. He worked as an unpaid curator of butterflies at Harvard University's Museum of Comparative Zoology. His scientific work was far from amateurish; he developed novel taxonomic methods and a groundbreaking, highly debated theory on the migration patterns and phylogeny of the Polyommatus blue butterflies, a hypothesis that modern DNA analysis confirmed decades later.
Nabokov achieved widespread international fame and financial independence with the publication of Lolita in 1955, a novel that was initially met with controversy and censorship battles due to its provocative subject matter concerning a middle-aged literature professor and his obsession with a twelve-year-old girl. The novel's critical and commercial success finally allowed him to leave teaching and academia behind. In 1959, he and Véra moved permanently to the quiet luxury of the Montreux Palace Hotel in Switzerland, where he focused solely on writing, translating his earlier Russian works into meticulous English, and studying local butterflies.
His later English novels, such as Pale Fire (1962), a complex, postmodern narrative structured around a 999-line poem and its delusional commentator, cemented his reputation as a master stylist and a technical genius. His literary style is characterized by intricate wordplay, a profound use of allusion, structural complexity, and an insistence on the artist's total, almost tyrannical, control over their created world. Nabokov often expressed disdain for what he termed "topical trash" and the simplistic interpretations of Freudian psychoanalysis, preferring instead to focus on the power of individual consciousness, the mechanics of memory, and the intricate, often deceptive, interplay between art and perceived "reality". His unique body of work, straddling multiple cultures and languages, continues to
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
December 18, 2025
Lolita - screenplay written by Vladimir Nabokov with contributors and directed by Stanley Kubrick
Another version of this note and thoughts on other books are available at:
- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list... and http://realini.blogspot.ro/
Lolita is a masterpiece.
A chef d'oeuvre that has been included among the best novels ever written.
The combination of two geniuses, Vladimir Nabokov and Stanley Kubrick promised a feast.
And the fireworks were delivered.
Stanley Kubrick is one of the best film directors of all time, the same way as Vladimir Nabokov is one of the most acclaimed authors.
Some of his films are on the lists of best cinema creations:
- Dr. Strangelove or How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, Shining, Paths of Glory, Spartacus...albeit the latter had a complicated history, with another director involved at the start.
Vladimir Nabokov was an intriguing man, about whom I have read in one book and heard in the program called Bouillon de Culture, created and presented by the brilliant Bernard Pivot.
The book is written by Robert Evans, who was the head of Paramount, the producer of films like The Godfather and Chinatown and the one who discovered Jack Nicholson among others.
In The Kid Stays in the Picture, Robert Evans writes about his encounter with the great author, when he was trying to buy the rights for one of his books and adapt it for the big screen.
The story with Bouillon de Culture is strange.
Vladimir Nabokov was invited on the show but he said he would only come if he brings along his written answers to the questions that he would know in advance.
And he did just that on the show.
Returning to Lolita, on which I have a previous note, posted after reading the original for the second time, I noticed a few major changes.
Instead of the background of Humbert Humbert, Paris and the introduction of the printed material, on the screen we have Humbert painting Lolita's toenails on the first scene.
After this, the audience is invited to have an ironic, jocular look at the confrontation between Humbert and Quilty.
They are played by James Mason and the brilliant Peter Sellers, the latter involved in creating multiple roles in this movie.
Quilty is faced by an angry, betrayed lover in his own home, when he just had a party.
Humbert is giving him to read the sentence and accusations.
- Do you remember Dolores?
Quilty appears to have trouble recalling, but it is probably just and act.
He maintains a jocular manner when he starts playing table tennis with Humbert, who is obviously not interested in the game.
Readers of the book know that we have the end placed at the beginning and the film audience is to realize that within minutes.
Humbert is throwing the balls out of the table and then takes out a gun...
- Oh, so you are a bad loser, Quilty is trying again to joke
But very soon, his tormented enemy is saying
- You want to die standing or sitting?
And starts shooting, wounding the former rival.
No spoiler alert is needed, it all happens in the first ten minutes and I do not know -and this is probably the point -if there is a more serious wound, except for the one we see, injuring the leg of Quilty.
As for the rest, I recognized the themes from the book, even if given the medium, a lot of what is within the printed masterpiece had to go.
The film was nominated for important Academy and other awards and won recognition.
The tone of the movie is more ironic and jocular and the relationship between the adult and the teenager is more suggested than depicted.
At the time of filming, it seems that even with that precaution the film was rated Adults Only, or for over eighteen depending on various markets.
It is a powerful, meaningful narrative, that does not present the pedofile as a good man, indeed we see him for what he is :
A complex man, with intelligence, cultivated, smart and cunning, but still a kind of a monster, if sophisticated, pleasant and jovial at times.
Another version of this note and thoughts on other books are available at:
- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list... and http://realini.blogspot.ro/
Lolita is a masterpiece.
A chef d'oeuvre that has been included among the best novels ever written.
The combination of two geniuses, Vladimir Nabokov and Stanley Kubrick promised a feast.
And the fireworks were delivered.
Stanley Kubrick is one of the best film directors of all time, the same way as Vladimir Nabokov is one of the most acclaimed authors.
Some of his films are on the lists of best cinema creations:
- Dr. Strangelove or How I learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, Shining, Paths of Glory, Spartacus...albeit the latter had a complicated history, with another director involved at the start.
Vladimir Nabokov was an intriguing man, about whom I have read in one book and heard in the program called Bouillon de Culture, created and presented by the brilliant Bernard Pivot.
The book is written by Robert Evans, who was the head of Paramount, the producer of films like The Godfather and Chinatown and the one who discovered Jack Nicholson among others.
In The Kid Stays in the Picture, Robert Evans writes about his encounter with the great author, when he was trying to buy the rights for one of his books and adapt it for the big screen.
The story with Bouillon de Culture is strange.
Vladimir Nabokov was invited on the show but he said he would only come if he brings along his written answers to the questions that he would know in advance.
And he did just that on the show.
Returning to Lolita, on which I have a previous note, posted after reading the original for the second time, I noticed a few major changes.
Instead of the background of Humbert Humbert, Paris and the introduction of the printed material, on the screen we have Humbert painting Lolita's toenails on the first scene.
After this, the audience is invited to have an ironic, jocular look at the confrontation between Humbert and Quilty.
They are played by James Mason and the brilliant Peter Sellers, the latter involved in creating multiple roles in this movie.
Quilty is faced by an angry, betrayed lover in his own home, when he just had a party.
Humbert is giving him to read the sentence and accusations.
- Do you remember Dolores?
Quilty appears to have trouble recalling, but it is probably just and act.
He maintains a jocular manner when he starts playing table tennis with Humbert, who is obviously not interested in the game.
Readers of the book know that we have the end placed at the beginning and the film audience is to realize that within minutes.
Humbert is throwing the balls out of the table and then takes out a gun...
- Oh, so you are a bad loser, Quilty is trying again to joke
But very soon, his tormented enemy is saying
- You want to die standing or sitting?
And starts shooting, wounding the former rival.
No spoiler alert is needed, it all happens in the first ten minutes and I do not know -and this is probably the point -if there is a more serious wound, except for the one we see, injuring the leg of Quilty.
As for the rest, I recognized the themes from the book, even if given the medium, a lot of what is within the printed masterpiece had to go.
The film was nominated for important Academy and other awards and won recognition.
The tone of the movie is more ironic and jocular and the relationship between the adult and the teenager is more suggested than depicted.
At the time of filming, it seems that even with that precaution the film was rated Adults Only, or for over eighteen depending on various markets.
It is a powerful, meaningful narrative, that does not present the pedofile as a good man, indeed we see him for what he is :
A complex man, with intelligence, cultivated, smart and cunning, but still a kind of a monster, if sophisticated, pleasant and jovial at times.
August 11, 2017
quicker, less subtle and with a Lo who is a swot. Some fabulous one or two sentence exhilarations.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews