Books: To the End of Night

LOLITA (319 pp.)—Vladimir Nabokov —Putnam ($5).

Early during World War II, one of the most remarkable writers ever to emigrate to the U.S. arrived in New York from France. Vladimir Nabokov was a stateless Russian. Unlike Oscar Wilde, who earlier at the same port said he had nothing to declare but his genius, Nabokov declared a set of boxing gloves. Two customs inspectors each donned a pair, sparred a friendly round and chalked everything O.K. But it was Nabokov who really won that round, for he smuggled into the country a greater and more...