Netflix's Vladimir is inspired by one of the most controversial 'banned' books of all time
Jeffrey Epstein was a fan of one of its inspirations
Vladimir, Rachel Weisz’s steamy age-gap drama, has a big connection to one of the most notorious books ever written.
The new series stars Weisz as an unnamed, middle-aged professor who falls under the spell of Vlad (Leo Woodall), a younger professor at her college.
Over the course of eight episodes, we see how her crush develops into something more. Her fantasies become more frequent and more intense, and she starts to question if she’s misinterpreting Vlad’s behaviour… or if he’s actually interested in her, despite being married to another staff member.
Weisz and Woodall’s characters are nearly 20 years apart. So, rather fittingly, it was inspired by the most controversial age-gap story of them all.
Vladimir author explains why it’s called Vladimir… and its Lolita connection
Vladimir is named after the protagonist’s titular infatuation, Vladimir. However, that’s not the only reason for the show’s (and the original book’s) name.
In an interview with Harvard Book Store, Julia May Jonas (the author of the novel) explained: “Books written by men about obsessions with women tend to have the woman’s name as the book.
“I’ll just say, obviously, there’s Lolita as the prime example I think people think of in terms of this book.”
Jonas said this influenced her decision not to name the protagonist. “Vladimir is an object. He’s unknowable to her. She can’t actually fully see him, she projects onto him… Vladimir is not Vladimir, Vladimir is her disappointment with her life,” she added.
Similarly, as Jonas pointed out, “you never know exactly who Lolita is… she’s a manifestation of Humbert Humbert’s fantasies.”
Vladimir has multiple Lolita Easter eggs
If you’re familiar with Lolita, you may have noticed a few nods to the book.
For example, the town’s local bakery, Charlotte Haze, is named after Lolita’s mother.
Vladimir is also set in a (fictional) town called Ramsdale, the same place where Lolita takes place. “I don’t know if we see the sign of the town, but it’s named after the town Humbert Humbert comes to,” Jonas told Tudum.
She reiterated that the title is a “nod to novels that name themselves after the young woman who the man is obsessed with, whether it’s Clarissa or Lolita or Pamela”.
“I wanted to flip the script and have it come from a woman’s perspective,” Jonas said.
Why Lolita was banned
For those unfamiliar with Lolita, the 1955 novel (penned by Vladimir Nabokov) centres on a professor named Humbert Humbert. It’s a pseudonym, obviously.
He moves to New England, where he becomes infatuated with a widow’s 12-year-old daughter. Her name is Dolores, but he refers to her as Lolita – and a “nymphet”, defined by Merriam-Webster as a “sexually precocious girl barely in her teens”.
That is effectively all that the book is about: his sexual obsession with a child. While widely acclaimed and defended by several critics, it sparked immense controversy among everyday readers and politicians.
In the UK, the Home Office ordered British Customs officials to seize any copies coming into the country. By 1959, this was lifted.
It suffered more severe restrictions in other territories. France’s Minister of the Interior banned Lolita for two years. While there wasn’t a nationwide ban in the US, the Cincinnati Public Library forbade it on account of its “perversion”.
Its notoriety (and film adaptations, including Jeremy Irons’ 1997 movie) only made it more popular. By 2005, over 50 million copies had been sold.
Lolita’s link to Jeffrey Epstein
Jeffrey Epstein, the late, disgraced financier and child sex offender, was said to be a fan of Lolita.
As revealed in the Epstein files, one photo showed a young woman with the opening lines of the book scribbled on her back.
According to reporter Michael Wolff (via The Atlantic), Epstein kept a copy of Lolita beside his bed.
Just over six weeks before his arrest, Epstein ordered an annotated version of Lolita for his Kindle.
Given all of the allegations against him and revelations about his behaviour in the wake of his death, his personal plane also took on a nickname in the media: the Lolita Express.
Read more: Vladimir ending explained: If the fire was real and the Netflix series’ huge changes from the book
