History of Lolita (timeline)

== Timeline ==
=== Early years ===
1935-1937: Nabokov writes his first "Lolitaesque" novel The Gift
1938: The Gift is published in Russia
1939: Nabokov writes his second Lolitaesque novel The Enchanter (which would not be published until 1985)
Late 1939 or early 1940: Nabokov is inspired to write Lolita
===1948===
December: Nabokov begins writing Lolita (then known as "The Kingdom by the Sea")
?: Dissatisfied, he pitches the manuscript into fire but his wife retrieves it
===1953===
December 6: Nabokov finishes writing the novel
?: Nabokov immediately begins searching for American publishers 
===1954===
January: Manuscript is rejected by Viking
June-August: Manuscript is rejected by Simon & Shuster
Autumn: Manuscript is rejected by New Directions, Farrar, and Straus
December: Manuscript is rejected by Doubleday
===1955===
February: Nabokov is defeated by American publishers, and sends the manuscript to Paris
June 6: Nabokov signs contract with Olympia Press, whose founder has agreed to publish the novel
September: Lolita is published in Paris as part of Olympia's "Traveller's Companion" books, which are pornographic novels aimed at English-speaking tourists
December: Graham Greene declares Lolita one of the three best books of that year in the Sunday Times
===1956===
Feburary-March: John Gordon declares Lolita one of the worst books he has ever read, causing scandal to now surround the novel and grabbing the interest of American publishers
May-July: Lolita is banned in England
October: Nabokov writes "On a Book Entitled Lolita" for the Anchor Review
December: Lolita (as well as 24 other Olympia books) is banned in France at the request of Britain
===1957===
August: Walter J. Minton of G. P. Putnam's Sons meets showgirl Rosemary Ridgewell, who convinces him to read Lolita
Minton writes to Nabokov and requests writes to publish the novel in America
===1958===
August 18: Lolita is published in the U.S. by Putnam's 
?: Orville Presott publishes his famously negative review of Lolita 
September: Stanley Kubrick and James B. Harris purchase the rights to adapt the novel into film
Lolita is banned in the Cincinnati public library
Lolita reaches #1 on the New York Times bestsellers list
?: Lolita is banned in Canada and unbanned in France
=== 1959 ===
August: Nabokov is asked to write the screenplay for the Kubrick-Harris film, but declines
?: Lolita is unbanned in England
November 8: Lolita is published in London by Weidenfeld & Nicolson
?: Lolita is banned in New Zealand and Argentina
December: Nabokov is asked again to write the screenplay and accepts
=== 1960 ===
January-February: Nabokov accepts $40,000 plus an additional $35,000 for writing the screenplay
March: Nabokov begins writing the screenplay
July-August: Nabokov submits his first draft to Kubrick but is rejected due to its length of over 400 pages
September: Nabokov shortens and re-submits the screenplay. Kubrick accepts.
=== 1962 ===
June: Nabokov attends the premiere of Lolita in New York and learns that Kubrick and Harris heavily revised his screenplay, leaving little to none of Nabokov's original writing
=== Later years ===
1964: Lolita is unbanned in Agrentina
February 1974: Lolita: A Screenplay is published by McGraw-Hill, but sells very poorly
1978: Lolita is banned in South Africa
September 1997: Adrian Lyne's film adaptation of Lolita is premiered internationally
1982: Lolita is unbanned in South Africa
August 1998: Lolita (1997) premieres in the U.S.
== References ==
Category:Lolita
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