LolitaLolita is a 1955 novel written by Russian-American novelist Vladimir Nabokov. The novel is notable for its controversial subject: the protagonist and unreliable narrator, a middle-aged literature professor under the pseudonym Humbert Humbert, is obsessed with a 12-year-old girl, Dolores Haze, whom he kidnaps and sexually abuses after becoming her stepfather. "Lolita", the Spanish nickname for Dolores, is what he calls her privately. The novel was originally written in English and first published in Paris in 1955 by Olympia Press.
LiteratureLiterature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, poetry, and including both print and digital writing. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include oral literature, also known as orature much of which has been transcribed. Literature is a method of recording, preserving, and transmitting knowledge and entertainment, and can also have a social, psychological, spiritual, or political role.
Saint PetersburgSaint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991; see below), is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva River, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of roughly 5.6 million residents as of 2021. Saint Petersburg is the fourth-most populous city in Europe, the most populous city on the Baltic Sea, and the world's northernmost city of more than 1 million residents.
Literary modernismLiterary modernism, or modernist literature, originated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and is characterized by a self-conscious break with traditional ways of writing in both poetry and prose fiction writing. Modernism experimented with literary form and expression, as exemplified by Ezra Pound's maxim to "Make it new." This literary movement was driven by a conscious desire to overturn traditional modes of representation and express the new sensibilities of the time.
Leo TolstoyInfobox writer | name = Leo Tolstoy | image = Лев Толстой (Чертков, 1910) - 0003600121.jpg | alt = | caption = Tolstoy in 1910 by Vladimir Chertkov | pseudonym = | native_name = Лев Николаевич Толстой | birth_date = | birth_place = Yasnaya Polyana, Krapivensky Uyezd, Tula Governorate, Russian Empire | death_date = | death_place = Astapovo, Ranenburgsky Uyezd, Ryazan Governorate, Russian Empire | resting_place = Yasnaya Polyana, Tula | occupation = Writer, religious thinker | language = Russian | citizenship = | education = | alma_mater = Imperial Kazan University (not graduated) | period = Modern | movement = Realism | years_active = 1847–1910 | genres = | subjects = Christian anarchism, pacifism | notableworks = | awards = Griboyedov Prize (1892) | spouse = | children = 14 | parents = | relatives = | signature = Leo Tolstoy signature.
NovelA novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The English word to describe such a work derives from the novella for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itself from the novella, a singular noun use of the neuter plural of novellus, diminutive of novus, meaning "new". According to Margaret Doody, the novel has "a continuous and comprehensive history of about two thousand years", with its origins in the Ancient Greek and Roman novel, in Chivalric romance, and in the tradition of the Italian Renaissance novella.
Postmodern literaturePostmodern literature is a form of literature that is characterized by the use of metafiction, unreliable narration, self-reflexivity, intertextuality, and which often thematizes both historical and political issues. This style of experimental literature emerged strongly in the United States in the 1960s through the writings of authors such as Kurt Vonnegut, Thomas Pynchon, William Gaddis, Philip K. Dick, Kathy Acker, and John Barth.
Salman RushdieSir Ahmed Salman Rushdie (sælˈmɑːn_ˈrʊʃdi; born 19 June 1947) is an Indian-born British-American novelist. His work often combines magic realism with historical fiction and primarily deals with connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and Western civilizations, typically set on the Indian subcontinent. Rushdie's second novel, Midnight's Children (1981), won the Booker Prize in 1981 and was deemed to be "the best novel of all winners" on two occasions, marking the 25th and the 40th anniversary of the prize.
StendhalMarie-Henri Beyle (bɛl; 23 January 1783 – 23 March 1842), better known by his pen name Stendhal (UKˈstɒ̃dɑːl, USstɛnˈdɑːl,_stænˈ-; stɛ̃dal, stɑ̃dal), was a 19th-century French writer. Best known for the novels Le Rouge et le Noir (The Red and the Black, 1830) and La Chartreuse de Parme (The Charterhouse of Parma, 1839), he is highly regarded for the acute analysis of his characters' psychology and considered one of the early and foremost practitioners of realism. A self-proclaimed egotist, he coined the same characteristic in his characters' "Beylism".
Fyodor DostoevskyFyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky (UKˌdɒstɔɪˈɛfski, USˌdɒstəˈjɛfski,_ˌdʌs-; Fyódor Mikháylovich Dostoyévskiy; 11 November 1821 - 9 February 1881), sometimes transliterated as Dostoyevsky, was a Russian novelist, short story writer, essayist and journalist. Numerous literary critics regard him as one of the greatest novelists in all of world literature, as many of his works are considered highly influential masterpieces.
