The Two Lolitas

by Michael Maar, Perry Anderson (Translation), Daniel Kehlmann (Preface)

A leading German scholar reveals his astonishing discovery about Nabokov's influential novel
Does it ring a bell? The first-person narrator, a cultivated man of middle age, looks back on the story of an amour fou. It all starts when, traveling abroad, he takes a room as a lodger. The moment he sees the daughter of the house, he is lost. She is a pre-teen, whose charms instantly enslave him. Heedless of her age, he becomes intimate with her. In the end she dies, and the narrator marked by her forever remains alone. The name of the girl supplies the title of the story: Lolita.

We know the girl and her story, and we know the title. But the author was Heinz von Eschwege, whose tale of Lolita appeared in 1916 under the pseudonym Heinz von Lichberg, forty years before Nabokov's celebrated novel took the world by storm. Von Lichberg later became a prominent journalist in the Nazi era, and his youthful work faded from view. The Two Lolitas uncovers a remarkable series of parallels between the two works and their authors—too many to make coincidence the most likely explanation. How did Vladimir Nabokov know of von Lichberg's long out-of-print tale? And why might he, the grand master of reference, want to draw our attention to such an unremarkable author?

Maar's extraordinary literary detective story casts new light on the making of one of the most influential works of the twentieth century. This new edition includes a preface by best-selling German novelist Daniel Kehlmann and an interview with the author, conducted by Kehlmann, in which Maar reveals that since writing the book, he has unveiled what might be the final piece of the puzzle.

Genres: Nonfiction, Literary Criticism, Russia

128 pages, Paperback

First published August 31, 2005

About the author

Michael Maar is a literary scholar and Germanist, the son of children's author Paul Maar. A member of the German Academy, he is the author of a dozen books, of which The Two Lolitas; Speak, Nabokov; and Bluebeard’s Chamber: Guilt and Confession in Thomas Mann have been translated into English.

Reviews

[Ammar · Rating 3 out of 5]

its an okay book
i expected better

[T · Rating 5 out of 5]

Did Nabokov plagiarise Lolita and The Waltz Invention, or did he suffer from cryptomnesia, or did he troll us all?.

A fascinating read, and absolutely not the kind of book I'd typically pick up. In fact, I'm not sure how to even categorise it, literary criticism/investigation? Either way, this illuminating study was made all the more pleasurable to read thanks to the genius translator. And on that note, it's now third time this year I'm praising by Perry Anderson!

[Kris McCracken · Rating 2 out of 5]

A (vaguely) interesting bit of literary detective work. I’ll be frank, I found it a somewhat dull. Your time would be better spent reading Nabokov himself, or even the ‘lost’ work of Heinz von Lichberg (the author of the ‘other’, less famous Lolita). Only for the completists.

[lara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Actual rating: 3.5/5 stars

Sooooo this was a suuuper interesting read, but it wasn’t exactly an easy read. It took me ages to get through because it was quite dense, but I was so fascinated by the concept of Lolita not being a completely original... would recommend for people who have read Lolita

[David Sogge · Rating 4 out of 5]

This fine piece of literary detective work presents evidence that Nabokov borrowed plots, characters and settings from second-rate fictions published in the early 1900s by an obscure German writer. Cases of outright plagiarism, on the face of it. And not only in his acclaimed Lolita. But Maar discounts such an indictment. He prefers instead the term invented by Thomas Mann for this way of using (without acknowledgement) other writers' work: “higher cribbing”.

Curiously absent in this otherwise tightly researched book is what Nabokov himself once told an interviewer about plagiarism: “I never plagiarize but, sometimes, I steal. There's a difference. Plagiarism is an act of sloth. Stealing is an act of love…”

In a lyrical conclusion, Maar argues that his discoveries shouldn’t diminish Nabokov’s rank as an author. Rather, they offer insights into links between “high” and “light” literature and into Nabokov’s “art of controlling and sometimes misleading his admirers”.

All very plausible. Yet it takes me down a rabbit hole to accept thievery as a virtue of the novelist’s craft.

[Pascale · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although not published by a University press, this book is an arid read, with lots of pages taken up by very long footnotes that interrupt the flow of the narration. Maar's big discovery is that there are a number of troubling similarities between 2 of Nabokov's books, "Lolita" and "The Waltz Invention", and 2 short-stories by a deservedly forgotten German journalist called Heinz von Eschwege, who used the pen-name von Lichberg. Furthermore, it seems that Nabokov went out of his way to embed some allusions to his obscure predecessor in both texts, while maintaining the fiction that he never mastered German properly. On the last page of this book, we learn that in the 1930s, Véra and Vladimir Nabokov were lodgers of relatives of von Eschwege. Much as I enjoy a good piece of literary sleuthing, I found this slim volume of little interest. Writers are magpies, nothing new there, and in my opinion Maar fails to capitalize on his findings.

[V.]

Elegantly written and convincing. They should have given this guy the Real Tadzio portfolio (a similar book, this one is just a little more dignified). Maar overeggs it a bit, though—not every "-berg" in Nabokov has to be an allusion to von Lichberg. The two actual von Lichberg stories included in the volume are, as promised, charmingly mediocre.

[Scotty · Rating 4 out of 5]

it was a slow day at work, so i read it. fantastic analysis. however, his french-isms were really annoying. in most cases, the english word would have been a superior choice. the book's a translation, right? translate.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting topic. Presupposes a bit of prior knowledge. But still very interesting and informative.

[Damian Mxyzptlk · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite interesting literary speculative investigation that uncovers something about the way Nabokov worked - taking details from an abominable short story and including them in his own novels and plays - only to mock the terrible writing of a virtually unknown German author, apparently. It's a good read, sometimes mind blowing, and as a bonus includes the two short stories that must have, in some way, inspired Nabokov: an "ur-Lolita", and another one that shares a lot with The Invention of Waltz. The discovery doesn't change much about my perception of Nabokov's genius, and perhaps I even admire it more now, having found how he played with stories that would otherwise be all but forgotten (as they were until discovered and investigated in relation to Nabokov).

[ren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short and sweet, just how I like my literary biographies. Too much in the traditional essay structure to be a truly compelling read, but interesting enough subject to keep the reader engaged. Would have been improved if the author had been able to take a more definitive position - did Nabokov plagiarize? Didn't he? - but I guess this stance is one of the downsides of being predominantly a fiction reader - you expect too much in the way of conclusions.

[Donald]

Really interesting short book which traces the possibility that either consciously
or subconsciously, Nabokov fashioned some incidents of his Masterpiece from a minor
German writer short stories, who lived in Berlin at the same time he did. There is nothing more than
surmise to back this up, but interesting, non the less. If you are one who reads everything on Nabokov, this might be a satisfying read.

[Mark Carter]

Interesting, but the whole thing could have been done with a bullet point list. He was wordy and dry in order to make this into a book, and it still came out to a small book. Looks like he just wanted to charge $20 for something that could have been a magazine article.

[Lucas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Intriguing.