Beyond literature, Nabokov was a lepidopterist whose butterfly research continued throughout his life.

Nabokov later translated Lolita into Russian, so the English text is the original rather than a translation.

Humbert's polished first-person voice tries to make readers overlook his abuse, making him an unreliable narrator.

Publishers and censors objected to the novel's depiction of Humbert's sexual exploitation of Dolores, a twelve-year-old girl.