Pnin Summary
Vladimir Nabokov

Pnin Summary

Timofey Pnin is a Russian immigrant teaching Russian at a Waindell, a small college in the northeastern United States. Despite his inoffensive and quiet existence, he is regularly victimized by the thoughtlessness and even hatred of others towards him, most of all his manipulative ex-wife, Liza. He winds up losing his job at Waindell and is forced to leave the one place he was ever comfortable living.

As the story opens, Pnin is on a train, believing that he is heading toward Cremona to deliver a lecture at a lady's club. Unfortunately, he planned his trip using an outdated train schedule and is headed in the completely wrong direction. At the advice of the train's conductor, he gets off and tries to catch a bus to his destination. However, he winds up spending too much time eating and misses it. To make his situation even worse, he believes, momentarily,... View more of the Pnin Summary