By DANI DODGE

ASHLAND -- The fire that burned a modest rental on Saturday illuminated a little-known chapter of literary history: Famed Russian-born novelist Vladimir Nabokov finished his most recognized work, "Lolita," while renting the small house at 163 Mead St. in the summer of 1953.

Nabokov "found Ashland singularly favorable to literary inspiration," Brian Boyd wrote in his 1991 book, "Vladimir Nabokov: The American Years." "Lolita was now purring along steadily, and had reached the point where he could begin to dictate his finished chapters to Vera (his wife) at the typewriter."

The house -- now owned by a Portland couple who are out of the country -- burned early Saturday after a 19-year-old occupant forgot to turn off two burners on the stove, firefighters said. Since Nabokov's residence there, the place had lost much of its luster as a charming cottage, and had been turned into three separate apartments. While Nabokov stayed there, he collected butterflies, finished "Lolita" and began several new works.

Modern Library, a division of Random House, placed "Lolita" fourth on its list of the century's 100 greatest English-language novels. The novel is the erotic tale of Humbert Humbert, a European intellectual adrift in America, who seduces the gum-chewing 12-year- old Dolores Haze, better known as Lolita. The novel has been viewed as a metaphor, with Humbert representing the formal, educated Old World of Europe and Lolita as the beautiful, fresh, yet vulgar America.

After tiring of cold weather and rattlesnakes at their doorstep, Nabokov and his wife drove their tired Oldsmobile from Portal, Ariz., to Ashland in June 1953. Nabokov wanted to explore the Pacific Northwest so he could make Humbert Humbert "defile with his sinuous trail of slime every state in America," Boyd wrote.

They rented the Mead Street home from a professor who had gone East for the summer. The home was surrounded by gardens of roses and irises, some of which still exist. Nabokov hiked abut 18 miles a day through the "mauve and green hills that surround Ashland," Boyd said.

An avid butterfly collector, Nabokov's passion turned into a "genuine mania" while in Ashland. After putting the final touches on "Lolita," Nabokov also compose the poem "Lines Written in Oregon" and "The Ballad of Longwood Glen." He began a story about a Professor Pnin.

Ashland reference librarian and author Bill Ashworth spotted the Ashland angle to the classic when he read Boyd's book back in the early 1990s. He took special note because the Mead Street address was only about a block from his own home. The connection was mentioned in a library newsletter, but never made much other news, Ashworth said.

"And the literary merit of the work is without question," Ashworth added.