On February 3, 1954, Vladimir Nabokov wrote to James Laughlin, the founder of New Directions, “Would you be interested in publishing a timebomb that I have just finished putting together? It is a novel of 459 typewritten pages.” The novel was “Lolita,” the tale of a middle-aged pedophile’s sexual exploitation of a twelve-year-old girl, and Nabokov’s description proved accurate. The book would not find an American publisher for almost five years, after threats of banning the book and imprisoning its author and publisher had abated. When “Lolita” finally did appear in America, in November, 1958, it indeed detonated like a time-delayed explosive: it drew an outraged review by the lead critic of the Times, Orville Prescott, who called it “repulsive …highbrow pornography,” and became an instant best-seller, breaking the record for one-week sales set by “Gone with the Wind.” More importantly, it secured for Nabokov, over time, a reputation as a master of English prose second only to Joyce.