EDNOTE.  Some bestseller context for LOLITA. NB that only LO, LADY CHATTERLeY, & Dr. Z are the only fiction items of  literary merit (and I have my doubts about a couple of them). What is striking is all three are on the list primarily due to scandal.I am, incidentally, depressed to note that
with the exception of the Taylor Caldwell and Pat Boone books, read all of these gems at the time.
 
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From: Sandy P. Klein
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http://www.gopbi.com/partners/pbpost/epaper/editions/sunday/arts_entertainment_e3e1ee9215e5013a00a3.html
 

The Decline of Western Civilization, continued...

The top 10 fiction bestsellers for 1959 included Leon Uris' Exodus, Pasternak's Doctor Zhivago, D.H. Lawrence's Lady Chatterley's Lover (published after a court battle over its alleged obscenity) and Nabokov's Lolita, along with Michener's Hawaii, Taylor Caldwell's Dear and Glorious Physician and The Ugly American.

On the other hand, the No. 1 nonfiction bestseller was Pat Boone's Twixt Twelve and Twenty, ahead of Moss Hart's Act One, Harry Golden's Only in America, Vance Packard's The Status Seekers and, believe it or not, Strunk and White's Elements of Style!

Quote Unquote...

"Very old people age somewhat as bananas do."

-- Edward Hoagland


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