Sarah Weinman - The Real Lolita - The Kidnapping of Sally Horner and the Novel That Scandalized the World

I also drew from the earlier work of Brian Boyd, Stacy Schiff, Andrew Field, Alexander Dolinin, and other Nabokov scholars. Schiff also generously shared her time, and advice, in a telephone conversation in April 2017, while Boyd was similarly helpful in an email exchange that same month. A telephone conversation with Walter Minton, in addition to earlier and later quotes, proved helpful with respect to the publication process of Lolita in the United States.

For additional historical context on Camden, I relied on Camden After the Fall: Decline and Renewal in a Post-American City by Howard Gillette (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006) and the Local History: Camden website maintained by Phil Cohen at http://www.dvrbs.com.

Berg: Vladimir Nabokov Archives, Berg Collection, New York Public Library, New York, NY

LOC: Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov Archives, Library of Congress, Washington, DC

NJSA: New Jersey State Archives, Trenton, NJ

VNAY: Brian Boyd, Vladimir Nabokov: The American Years (Princeton University Press, 1991)

Unless noted otherwise, all interviews were with the author.

no “little deadly demon”: Lolita, p. 15.

It happened to the writer Mikita Brottman: Mikita Brottman, The Maximum Security Book Club: Reading Literature in a Men’s Prison , pp. 196–197.

“I hate tampering with the precious lives”: Nabokov, Lectures on Russian Literature , p. 138.

“It is strange, the morbid inclination”: Nabokov , Nikolai Gogol , p. 40.

three increasingly tendentious biographies: The level of acrimony in Andrew Field’s VN (1986) compared with Nabokov: His Life in Art (1967) and Nabokov: His Life in Part (1977) is astonishing; the falling-out between biographer and subject would make an excellent play.

A two-part definitive study: Boyd’s Vladimir Nabokov: The Russian Years (1990) and VNAY (1991).

Stacy Schiff’s 1999 portrayal: Schiff , Véra (Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov) .

lifted its fifty-year restriction: Finding Aid, Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov Papers, Manuscript Division, LOC.

an earlier Nabokov story, “Spring in Fialta”: The Stories of Vladimir Nabokov , p. 413.

Sally Horner walked into the Woolworth’s: “Camden Girl Saved from Kidnapper in Calif,” Camden Courier-Post , March 22,1950, p. A1.

on a March afternoon in 1948: From Camden County prosecutor Mitchell Cohen’s remarks at an April 2, 1950, court hearing, reported by the Courier-Post on April 3, p. AI.

A slender, hawk-faced man: Associated Press, March 22, 1950, taken from the Lima (Ohio) News , p. 5.

A scar sliced his cheek: Draft registration card, January 1944.

suicide of her alcoholic husband: Death certificate of Russell Horner, March 24,1943.

Her homeroom teacher, Sarah Hanlin: Philadelphia Inquirer, March 23,1950, p. 3.

Emma DiRenzo, one of Sally’s classmates: Interview with Emma DiRenzo, November 13, 2017.

The telephone rang: Camden Courier-Post , March 23,1950.

Ella let her concerns slide: United Press , Salt Lake Tribune , August 6,1948, p. 5.

Robert and Jean Pfeffer were newlyweds: This section draws almost entirely from two newspaper reports that quoted Robert Pfeffer at length: Camden Courier-Post , March 24, 1950, p. 2; and Philadelphia Inquirer , March 24,1950, p. 3.

Ella was relieved: Camden Evening Courier , August 6, 1948, p. I.

Detective Joseph Schultz: Courier-News , Bridgewater, NJ, August 6, 1948, p. 15.

the lodging house: The 203 Pacific Avenue address came from the 1940 census; La Salle was known to return to addresses where he had lived in the past.

“He didn’t take any of his or the girl’s clothes”: Philadelphia Inquirer , March 23,1950, p. I.

Marshall Thompson led the search: Camden Courier-Post , March 23, 1950, p. I.

only six months before he’d abducted Sally: Mitchell Cohen’s court statement, April 2, 1950.

The year 1948 was a pivotal one: This chapter largely draws upon VNAY , pp. 129–135, as well as letters reprinted in Nabokov , Selected Letters: 1940–1977 .

Nabokov had also traveled: Itemized road trip summaries available at “Lolita, USA,” compiled by Dieter E. Zimmer, http://www.d-e-zimmer.de/LolitaUSA/LoUSNab.htm.

“lovely, trustful, dreamy, enormous country”: Lolita , p. 176.

“Beyond the tilled plain”: Ibid., p. 152.

marriage to Véra was once again stable: VNAY , p. 129.

had been ill: Letter from Vladimir Nabokov to Katharine White, May 30, 1948.

“quiet summer in green surroundings”: VNAY , p. 131.

“wrinkled-dwarf Cambridge flatlet”: Ibid.

“ends with a feeling of hopelessness”: Ibid.

Nabokov appreciated Wilson’s gift: Letter from Vladimir Nabokov to Edmund Wilson, June 10, 1948 , Dear Bunny, Dear Volodya: The Nabokov-Wilson Letters, 1940–1971, ed. Simon Karlinsky, p. 178.

“I was always interested in psychology”: Field , VN: The Life and Art of Vladimir Nabokov , p. 212.

Her legal name: Sally Horner’s birth certificate, issued by the State of New Jersey Department of Health, April 18, 1937, obtained from the Department of Health office in May 2017.

When the subject came up: Interview with Diana Chiemingo, August 2014, and again in July 2017.

William Ralph Swain: Susan Panaro’s birth certificate listing Swain as her father, State of New Jersey Department of Health, No vember 1926, obtained from the Department of Health office in May 2017.

One subject they all fretted about: Interview with Diana Chiemingo, July 2016.

That’s where Ella met Russell Horner: Asbury Park Press , December 9, 1935, p. 9, and June 9, 1936, p. 7.

As for Russell Junior: Social Security application, February 1937.

Susan remembered the beatings: Interviews with Al Panaro and Diana Chiemingo, August 2014.

She took Susan and Sally to Camden: Camden telephone directory, 1946.

Russell became itinerant: Interview with Al Panaro, 2014.

He lost his driver’s license: “‘Short Cut’ Costs Autoist License,” Philadelphia Inquirer , March 27, 1942, p. 27.

By the beginning of 1943: Asbury Park Press , March 26, 1943, p. 2.

Later, when it became necessary: Camden Courier-Post , March 22, 1950, p. I.

Her mother, Susannah: Obituary for Susannah Goff , Trenton Times , October 31, 1939; obituary for Job Goff , Asbury Park Press , January 12, 1943.

Susan, by now sixteen: Interview with Diana Chiemingo, July 2016; interview with Al Panaro, August 2014.

she and Al wed in Florence: Marriage certificate, NJSA.

Robert and Jean Pfeffer: Philadelphia Inquirer , March 24, 1950, p. 3.

At first Marshall Thompson worked: Joseph S. Wells, “Sleuth Closes Books on Tireless Search,” Camden Courier-Post , March 22, 1950, p. 9.

He had been promoted to detective: “Marshall Thompson,” DVRBS.com, http://www.dvrbs.com/people/CamdenPeopleMarsliallThompson.htm, accessed January 16, 2018.

“local pugilists”: Camden Courier-Post , January 2, 1928.

His musical ability was called out: Camden Courier-Post , November 3, 1939.