subscribe to this pageACLU response to 1997 censorship hearings in Oklahoma. Relevant portion includes:
"There is nothing prurient about The Tin Drum," Bertin said. "If the child pornography laws can be applied to The Tin Drum, then Lolita is off limits too, along with pictures of some fertility rites in other cultures, pictures of ancient Greek vases, and some paintings by the renowned artist Balthus. The First Amendment requires room for works of serious artistic, historical, or educational merit, even if they involve sexually suggestive imagery involving minors. The child pornography laws are intended to prevent sexual abuse of children, not to stifle artistic expression or rewrite history."
Essay published by Connecticut College regarding Nabokov's politics in his novels. Interesting and insightful quotes regarding Lolita, including:
It was an interesting thing to do. Why did I write any of my books, after all? For the sake of the pleasure, for the sake of the difficulty. I have no social purpose, no moral message; I've no general ideas to exploit, I just like composing riddles with elegant solutions. (SO 16)
Essay regarding censorship history of Lolita, including original publishing and impetus for early controversy. Relevant portion includes:
The novel might never have drawn the censors' attention had not Graham Greene selected it as one of the three best books of the year in the 1955 Christmas issue of the Sunday Times. Immediately, John Gordon, the editor of the very popular Sunday Express, took Graham Greene to task in a bitter article which really marked the beginning of the Affaire Lolita: "Without doubt it is the filthiest book I have ever read," wrote Gordon. "Sheer unrestrained pornography... Anyone who published it or sold it here would certainly go to prison.