The discussion about "inventing" the word nymphet, prompted by the interview unearthed by Maurice Couturier, is very interesting.  Even more interesting to me, however, is VN's answer to the question about whether Lolita is a "violent satire" of America.  He replies:  "Maybe. But it is a mock-up America and I could have assembled another one. I created an America I like, strange, amusing, and I arranged for my characters to wander around its gardens and mountains, which I imitated or rather invented."

 

This is the clearest statement I can recall seeing from VN about the relative "realism" of Lolita's America.  It confirms something I have long believed (and have argued to friends who find the novel a completely absurd and inaccurate picture of how Americans talked and behaved in the 1940s and 1950s): Like every setting he ever used in his fiction, "the United States" is an invention, indeed "strange" and "amusing" but -- to use another of VN's favorite notions -- a fairy tale.

 

All best,

 

John