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

another sensational crime: “Charge Is Due Today in ‘Perfect Murder,’” New York Times , September 2, 1952, p. 17.

this case got an entire paragraph: Lolita , p. 287.

The G. Edward Grammer case: Case summary is derived from State v. George Edward Grammer (Transcripts), George E. Grammer, 1952, Box 1 No. 3544 [MSA T 496-67, 0/2/2/39], as well as subsequent appeals, including Grammer v. State (1953) and Grammer v. Maryland (1954). The entire case file is deposited at the Maryland State Archives, Annapolis, MD.

openly critical of mystery novels: Catherine Theimer Nepomnyaschy, “Revising Nabokov Revising the Detective Novel: Vladimir, Agatha, and the Terms of Engagement,” The Proceedings of the International Nabokov Conference, March 24–27, 2010, Kyoto, Japan. Available at http://www.columbia.edu/cu/creative/epub/harriman/2015/fall/nabakov_and_the_detective_novel.pdf.

called out Dostoevsky as a hack: Nabokov , Lectures on Russian Literature , p. 109—while this line is the opinion of the author, Nabokov’s judgment “Let us always remember that basically Dostoeveski [sic] is a writer of mystery stories” is meant to be pejorative.

As Véra told their close friend Morris Bishop: Schiff , Véra (Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov) , p. 232.

stabbing murders of Dr. Melvin Nimer and his wife: Nabokov almost certainly read “Prosecutor Says Boy, 8, Confesses Killing Parents; Boy Said to Admit Killing Parents,” New York Times , September 11, 1958, p. 1.

police detectives still claiming as recently as 2007: “Nimer Now” (video) , Staten Island Advance , February 11, 2007, http://blog.silive.com/advancevideo/2007/02/nimer_now_458.html.

venture west one more time: VNAY , pp. 223–226.

Vladimir Nabokov wrote a note: Page-a-Day Diary, 1953, Berg.

“a novel I would be able to finish”: Letter from Nabokov to Edmund Wilson, June 15, 1951.

“crumpling each old manuscript sheet”: VNAY , p. 225.

“enormous, mysterious, heartbreaking novel”: Letter from Nabokov to Katharine White, September 29, 1953.

when Nabokov wrote to Edmund Wilson: Letter from Nabokov to Edmund Wilson, 1947.

The first time was in the fall of 1948: Schiff, Véra (Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov) , p. 166.

“Véra came to the rescue”: Roper , Nabokov in America , p. 149.

“one day in 1950”: Interview with Nabokov by Herbert Gold , Paris Review 41 (Fall 1957), reprinted in Nabokov , Strong Opinions , p. 105.

Lolita was ready to be submitted: VNAY , pp. 255–267.

Edmund Wilson read half: Letter from Edmund Wilson to Nabokov, November 30, 1954.

grew “negative and perplexed”: Letter from Mary McCarthy to Nabokov, November 30, 1954.

Wilson’s present wife, Elena: Letter from Elena Wilson to Nabokov, November 30, 1954.

parody piece in the New Yorker : Dorothy Parker, “Lolita,” New Yorker , August 27, 1955, p. 32.

Nabokov joked to Edmund Wilson: Letter from Nabokov to Edmund Wilson, February 19, 1955.

founder and publisher of Olympia Press: Account is drawn in large part from John De St. Jorre , Venus Bound: The Erotic Voyage of the Olympia Press and Its Writers .

submitted Lolita to Girodias: VNAY , p. 265.

As Nabokov later recalled: “Lolita and Mr. Girodias,” Evergreen Review 45 (1967), reprinted in Nabokov , Strong Opinions .

Nabokov received a letter from Walter Minton: Letter to Nabokov from Walter Minton, August 30, 1957, reprinted in Selected Letters: 1940–1977 , pp. 224–225.

had succeeded his father, Melville: “Walter Minton on the House ‘Lolita’ Built,” New Yorker , January 8, 2018.

“I thought Nabokov had”: “The Lolita Case,” Time , November 17, 1958.

he had all but given up: Letter from Nabokov to Walter Minton, December 23, 1957.

Lolita had been banned in France: VNAY , pp. 310–315.

Minton’s letter augured a change: Letter from Nabokov to Walter Minton, September 7, 1957; letter from Véra Nabokov to Minton, September 19, 1957; De St. Jorre , Venus Bound , p. 144.

‘“Don’t ever open your mouth’”: Undated interview with Walter Minton by John De St. Jorre, quoted in Venus Bound . When I spoke to Minton in August 2017, he brought up the legality of Lolita ’s copyright status without prompting: “I still wonder about that damn copyright.”

As Minton explained: Inference from Nabokov letters to Walter Minton, January–February 1958.

Vladimir and Véra Nabokov left Ithaca: VNAY , pp. 362–364.

“Vladimir was a tremendous success”: Page-a-Day Diary, August 1958, Berg.

Minton sent the following telegram: Reprinted in Selected Letters: 1940–1977 , p. 257.

Elizabeth Janeway’s rave review: “The Tragedy of Man Driven by Desire,” New York Times Book Review , August 17, 1958.

The reorder number from retailers: VNAY , p. 365.

“ought to have happened thirty years ago”: Letter from Nabokov to Elena Sikorski, September 6, 1958.

The indefinite leave of 1958: VNAY , p. 378.

Peter Welding was a young freelance reporter: Obituary of Peter Welding , New York Times , November 23, 1995.

Welding remembered reading of Sally’s plight: “Lolita Has a Secret, Shhh!,” Nugget , vol. 8, no. 5, November 1963.

a New York Post reporter named Alan Levin: Obituary of Alan Levin , New York Times , February 17, 2006.

The Nabokovs subscribed: Manuscript box, miscellaneous clippings, 1960–1965, Berg.

Schiff… strongly advised against reading: Interview with Stacy Schiff, April 2017.

Decades after Ruth Janisch: Account is largely drawn from interviews with “Rachel Janisch,” May 2017, and “Vanessa Janisch,” March 2015, March 2016, and May 2017.

Ella had connected with a new partner: 1951 Camden telephone directory records both residing at 944 Linden Street.

made their union legal: California marriage records, 1965, retrieved through Ancestry.com.

Five years later, Burkett was dead: Death certificate, State of California Department of Public Health, 1970.

Diana didn’t learn the truth: Interview with Diana Chiemingo, August 2014.

Ella settled back in New Egypt: Obituary of Ella Horner, 1998, Ancestry.com.

Susan died in 2012, and Al passed away: Obituary of Susan Panaro , Burlington County Times , August 5, 2012; obituary of Al Panaro, KoschekandPorterFuneralHome.com, February 25, 2016.

“Did you say that Sally Horner”: Interview with Carol Taylor, December 2016; email from Robin Lee Hambleton, November 2017.

Edward Baker got on with his life: Obituary of Edward Baker , Vineland Daily Journal , July 28, 2014.

On the afternoon of Wednesday, May 17: Vineland Daily Journal , May 18, 2007.

The two Camden police detectives: “Wilfred L. Dube,” DVRBS.com, http://www.dvrbs.com/people/CamdenPeople-WilfredLDube.htm; “Marshall Thompson,” DVRBS.com.

Howard Hornbuckle served one more term: Obituary of Howard Hornbuckle , Petaluma (California) Argus-Courier , May 9, 1962, p. 4.

Mitchell Cohen’s health suffered: Camden Courier-Post , August 30, 1950, p. 1.