I would like to bring to your attention my comments on Vladimir Nabokov's novel Lolita. As far as I know, these are the most complete comments currently available. I suggest five chapters for review. Please note that English is not my native language, I wrote these comments in Russian, and translated them into English using AI — the text certainly needs editing. I would appreciate any comments or clarifications.

Labyrinths of «Lolita»

There's a common opinion that the last two novels of Nabokov are inferior to his previous works. Some even name them something like auto-parodies.

How would you rate Look at the Harlequins and Transparent Things? Would you recommend them?

Hi everyone. Here's a short piece I wrote on Nabokov. He has influenced me more than any other writer, living or dead - and this piece is a small tribute to his incredible genius. I hope you like it.

I am going to start reading Nabokov: I have Laugher in the dark and invitation to a Beheading ... from which to start?

I just finished King Queen Knave and I looked it up on Wikipedia. The English version which was revised with the help of his son. I thought it would be interesting to see what changes were made in the book, but I don’t know how to find what the first draft would be. I assume I would have to get an original copy of the Russian original and of course I can’t speak Russian and it’s probably not going to be digital so I won’t be able to use the translation on it. But Wikipedia does say the changes made were extensive. That doesn’t sound like his style because I understand that his Russian translation of Lolita was Word for Word.

The ending of the book seemed contrived. The book ended two abruptly and there needed to be a little bit of follow up as to what happens to the characters, similar to Madam Bovary which has a depressing ending, but at least you feel like the loose ends are tied up.

Salute,

Is Dostoevsky's peak; The Double (what's his peak anyway?) higher than Tolstoy in Anna Karenina?

Is there anyway to read the 1937 translation of Nabokov's Despair, the one that was mostly destroyed during WW2? i'm interested in comparing it to the 1965 translation

From Selected Poems, edited by Thomas Karshan

Something about how he believes she must've had homosexual experiences at camp or at school or something....thank you!!

Hi,

I have the Vintage International Edition of ‘Pnin, ‘ and I was looking up references to Nab by Pynchon and vice versa.

Now, I know that Vlad (not-so-) famously had a laugh when he first read that name in Pynchon’s novel, but I wasn’t certain whether it’s because of the explicit word-play and tacit reference to psychologist John Dewey, or if there was something more to it.

I made the mistake of asking CGPT about the connection and was told that Vlad introduced (or rather, alluded to) a character named Dewey Gland, the name of whom corresponds to another character in ‘V. ‘ This is supposed to have taken place in Chapter 2 and the passage that was quoted to me is,

“To Dr. Eric Wind, a fellow émigré and […], Pnin owed a number of strange notions, such as that of the Dewey Gland, which supposedly secreted a peculiar hormone responsible for the formulation of our opinions and emotions.”

I cannot find any such reference in the book despite checking a few other editions. Am I being gaslit or have I just missed it?

I have been trying to find more copies of Lolita to add to my Nabokov collection. I have a Russian translation, but the cover is not my favorite. I really enjoy this cover over any other. This German translation is starting to become one of my favorites. I always run into the copy they have at B&N (I'm sure you have seen this one) but am just not a fan of this cover. I would like to see what your favorite artworks are!

Any insight on these?

Does anyone know where I can find a comprehensive list of his short stories in chronological order?

What does the ‘diktanti’ in Speak Memory as follows “kolokololitryshchiki perekolotiki vikarabkavshihsya vihuholey” mean. I’ve googled it and not one result. Is it phonetic?

Hermann, the protagonist of Despair, is another in the long line of the artists, true and wannabe, portrayed by Nabokov, along with Fyodor Godunov-Cherdynstev, Luzhin, Cincinattus, even Humbert and Kinbote. But among them, Hermann is probably the most miserable and dull. He fails as an artist, and fails miserably. Even before the big twist, near the end, we are given clues that Hermann simply doesn't have an artistic eye. He sees doubles where there is none like with the painting he mistakenly attributes to Ardalion, or the statue he compares to the Bronze Horseman in Saint-Petersburg, or the waiter in the cafe whose double he believes he had seen previously somewhere.

He doesn't see his wife's affair, and thinks she is faithful and absolutely loyal to him (subtle hints could be seen that his marriage is a sham from the beginning, simply a way for Lydia and Ardalion to escape post-revolutionary Russia). Actually, even Ardalion, quite a pathetic figure, an alcoholic, has more artistic skills than Hermann, and gives him a good explanation of his failure: Hermann saw and looked for similarities where there was a difference.

And all along the narration of Hermann there hovers a figure of a true artist, the author himself, who plays with his hero ruthlessly, though Hermann surely deserves it. An example of this (that I found in the article by Sergey Davydov in Garland Companion) is the motif of sticks or canes scattered all over the novel, and it is the stick of Felix that finally leads to the Hermann's apprehension by the police and signifies that even his masterpiece of a murder failed in the most trivial and vulgar way.

H

I was wondering if anyone has read this book or know anything about the book/author? I found this book at my uni and it caught my attention, but I wasn't familiar with the author as I haven't seen anything dealing with Nabokov studies that have been written by this author. Thank you!!

https://www.dailycal.org/weekender/commentary/taylor-swift-was-vladimir-nabokov-in-a-past-life-a-commentary/article_21ff5386-820a-11ef-bfa7-0776439a2f0a.html

I’ve read and recommend Véra. The other I’m using more for reference.

Vivian (Nabokov's well-known self-inserted avatar, due to the anagram) writes the "Notes to Ada" appendix at the end of Ada or Ardor. Since N was a perfectionist when it came to detail, something massive always bugged me. Vivian Darkbloom exists in the "canon" I suppose of Lolita, not 1800s Antiterra. Furthermore, she wouldn't need to provide notes about the memoir Ada herself helped the author pen. My first thought was simply that N was having fun, making yet another reference to his other masterpiece, but at the same time it seems illogical even for this bizarre novel. I know I'm probably overthinking it, but I just want to see what other people think about this.

https://youtube.com/shorts/Oxjs_xwSPpI?si=eSX9wdAgRHguSRXI

*The post title has a typo in it; I meant to say stylish...

The majority of the scholarship on Nabokov's Pale Fire—which had its boom in late last century—seems to be extraordinarily stylish, especially when compared to scholarship on other great books. If you would go on thenabokovian.org, you'd see some rather obscure or puzzling comments with a great lot to work out. Some papers would compare Pale Fire against things that one would never expect. The scholarship upon the book is severely fun.

Why is this? Is this some sort of a tribute to the wonderful stylistics of our writer?

Has anyone compared them? It seems Russian version is quite different

I’ve read

The Eye (1930) Glory (1931) Laughter in the Dark (1932) Despair (1934) Invitation to a Beheading (1938) The Gift (1938) Pnin (1957) Lolita (1960) Pale Fire (1962) Ada, or Ardor (1969) The collected shorts Insomniac dreams

Currently reading Véra by Stacy schiff.

The rest of his novels in my collection are at another location.