Lolita, the story of a temptress whose seduction of an older man caused a sensation when published by Vladimir Nabokov and a scandal when filmed by Stanley Kubrick, was the creation of a Nazi journalist, a new analysis says.

A novella, published in 1916 by Heinz von Eschwege, describes a girl called Lolita who obsesses and then seduces the narrator. The narrator, who is lodging in her house while on holiday, is distraught when the girl dies at the end of the story. This is astoundingly similar to Nabokov's book, published in 1956, says Michael Maar, a literary scholar.

"The name is the same, the title, the fact that it is written in the first person," he said.

"There is a close description of first seeing Lolita, looking into her eyes and seeing she was more than a girl, more than a child. The narrators are lodgers and both have passionate affairs and then Lolita dies."

Mr Maar came across the von Eschwege book after being drawn into an argument at a party with a teacher who suggested the Lolita name and story were not new.

Von Eschwege, who wrote under the name Heinz von Lichberg, was a journalist in the Third Reich. He is known for his radio commentary during Adolf Hitler's torch-lit procession to the Reichstag in 1933.

By this time von Lichberg had already published his 18-page story in which a man, looking for a quiet place for a holiday, travels to Spain and ends up renting a room in Alicante, where he soon engages in eye contact with his host's daughter, Lolita.

"When you read it today and compare it with the [Nabokov] novel, you do get a light feeling of surreality and deja vu," Mr Maar said.

Von Eschwege and Nabokov lived in the same area of Berlin for 15 years, which Mr Maar believes makes it possible that the Russian read the earlier work.

But Mr Maar said that in his eyes Nabokov's reputation was undiminished.

"What you can see is that the theme itself is nothing. The first novel is not of great artistic merit but then the master takes the subject and creates a work of art."

The Telegraph, London

This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/03/21/1079823238702.html