LitHub Daily: August 18, 2015

TODAY: In 1958, Lolita is published in the United States despite bans in Europe; goes into third printing within days. 

• Richard Beck on the moral panic of the 1980s, the safety of children, and the myth of recovered memory. | Literary Hub
• James Baldwin’s FBI file contains 1,884 pages, the result of years of stalking, harassment, and wildly incorrect information. | The Intercept
• Hold it against me if You will: a short story by Alice McDermott. | The New Yorker
• Is Purity “an utter pleasure to read,” “a missed opportunity,” or an “utterly successful melodrama?” Three intrepid readers investigate. | Oyster Review of Books
• In which Etgar Keret reveals his heroic birth story and very dispiriting writer origin story. | Guernica
• Benjamin Moser on (figuratively) waking up next to Clarice Lispector and realizing she was the love of his life. | The Paris Review
• On Fran Ross’s Oreo, a wisecrack-filled, formally innovative reworking of the myth of Theseus. | Full Stop
• Is it possible to write a poetic thriller? An interview with Helen Phillips. | Slice Magazine
• Exile and “gap years” in the avant-garde: the travels of Marcel Duchamp, Andre Breton, and César Vallejo. | 3:AM Magazine

Also on Literary Hub: A story by Clarice Lispector, “Beauty and the Beast or The Enormous Wound” · A history of Lolita, from Olympia Press to Lana Del Rey · Five books making news this week (Purity included) · A profile of Ottessa Moshfegh

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