The Real Lolita

Sally Horner

"Here, in newspaper accounts of Sally Horner's plight, was a possible solution to a long-standing problem with the manuscript...how to create the necessary scaffolding for of the ideas rattling around in his mind, the decades of compulsion, and the games he wished to play with the reader" (152)

The Real Lolita by Sarah Weinman

With The Real Lolita, crime writer Sarah Weinman documents the connections between multiple intertwined realities from the mid-century: first, the kidnapping and repeated rape of Sally Horner (age 11) by Frank LaSalle; second, the writing and publication of Lolita; and third, the culture of crime in the US during the 1950s. Weinman’s attempts to discern exactly how central the story of Sally Horner’s trauma was to Nabokov’s novel by tracing the facts of Horner’s abduction alongside the evolution of Lolita into the novel it became—a process which took some 20 years of obsession and numerous literary attempts on Nabokov’s part. Weinman’s recounting of Horner’s story is insightful, compassionate, and clearly written. Her discussion of other high-profile mid-century US crimes feels less relevant, but is generally useful for context. Weinman’s conclusion that Nabokov was indeed directly influenced by Horner’s story but then chose to obscure this connection, is supported by the scant available documentation (namely, a smoking gun notecard of Nabokov’s) as well as her own transparently-reasoned inference. While not a particularly striking piece of literature in and of itself, The Real Lolita offers a straightforward investigation into the terrible tale of what happened to Sally Horner and an earnest attempt at discerning Vladimir Nabokov’s actions and intentions. Subjects this book includes that some readers may be sensitive to: abduction, rape, death, violence.

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