Vladimir Nabokov Summary

Biography EssayVladimir Nabokov, one of the most important world novelists of the twentieth century, was almost unique in changing languages in mid career, from Russian to English. Not identified with... Read more

Vladimir Nabokov, a Russian émigré who began writing in English in middle age, is considered one of the most brilliant and inventive writers of the twentieth century. A trilingua... Read more

Vladimir Nabokov is one of the most important novelists of the twentieth century--and a thoroughly international one whose work is as carefully read in France, Germany, Japan, and Finland as in his ho... Read more

Critical Essay by R. M. Keils The best of [Nabokov's] humor is not inflicted upon us. It appears thinly, a condensate, like something in our breath. It is humor that points at something unseen ... Read more

Critical Essay by W. Walkarput Andrew Field does not exist. The book recently published under his name, Nabokov: His Life in Part, is in fact a novel written by Vladimir Nabokov. It is the final and m... Read more

Critical Essay by John Updike Faithful Nabokovians have met Mary before; she sat for her portrait as Tamara in Speak, Memory, lurks near the heart of Lolita, and was deified in Ada. [In Mary], artisti... Read more

Critical Essay by Dean Flower Vladimir Nabokov's recent novels in English have not won him many converts nor have they discouraged the view that his art is mere artificial gamesmanship of a who... Read more

Critical Essay by Robert Merrill [There are two virtual commonplaces] about the art of Vladimir Nabokov: that it is anti-realistic or anti-mimetic, and therefore a deliberate reproach to the Great Tra... Read more

Critical Essay by James Campbell As novelist, Nabokov fits his own description of the role as a combination of teacher, story-teller and enchanter, and [Lectures on Literature] proves that he was all ... Read more

Critical Essay by Gore Vidal Professor Vladimir Nabokov's beautiful memoir Speak Memory has now been succeeded by Strong Opinions—a collection of press clippings in which he has preserve... Read more

Critical Essay by A. L. Rowse Always rather a hazardous business bringing two prime donne together…. Actually Edmund Wilson and Nabokov come out of the test rather well [in The Nabokov-Wilson L... Read more

Critical Essay by Brian Stonehill As part of his demolition of the then fashionable politico-socio-Marxist readings of Flaubert's Madame Bovary …, Nabokov would tell his students, ... Read more

Critical Essay by Daphne Merkin There are, as one would expect, many dazzling moments in [Lectures on Literature], but the most striking point about them is the industry that went into their making. I... Read more

In the following essay, Jones examines the parallels between Lolita in Nabokov's novel and Albertine in Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time. “The Poor Woman”—Char... Read more

In the following essay, Ermarth examines the tension between reflexive and representational language in Nabokov's fiction and in the theories of Julia Kristeva, the French philosopher of langua... Read more

In the following essay, Toker compares the plot, characters, and situations in the Russian and English versions of King, Queen, Knave. Lovers and madmen have such seething brains, Such shaping fantasi... Read more

In the following essay, Buhks discusses Nabokov's ambivalent critique of Dostoevski. Nabokov's characterisation of Dostoevskii was both harsh and eccentric. With unwavering insistence th... Read more

In the following essay, Karlinsky examines the sources of two of Nabokov's plays and their similarities to his novels. It was Vladislav Khodasevich who in 1937 characterized Nabokov as a writer... Read more

In the following essay, Foster discusses Nabokov's place on the modernist/postmodernist continuum. 1. The Library of America's recent publication of Vladimir Nabokov's novels in E... Read more

In the following criticism of philosopher Richard Rorty's reading of Nabokov, Stow argues Rorty is, himself, a Nabokovian type. In 1996, Vladimir Nabokov, an author who continually claimed that... Read more

In the following essay, Sweeney discusses the role of fairy tale elements in Nabokov's “A Nursery Tale.” Like most of Vladimir Nabokov's works, the short story “Skaz... Read more

The following is a British Broadcasting Company transcript of Nabokov's last interview in 1977. We arrived in February. Wintry laurels and the bare willow trees made the path at the side of the... Read more

In the following essay, Amis argues that the three “black farces,” King, Queen, Knave; Laughter in the Dark; and Despair are precursors to Lolita. There are several ways in which Nabokov... Read more

In the following essay, Pifer argues that frequent critical charges that Nabokov's novels represent the work of an aesthetic disposition devoid of human concern misrepresent the writer and his ... Read more

In the following essay, Paperno and Hagopian detail the treatment of Nabokov's work in the Soviet Union. It is perhaps not entirely whimsical to observe that cultural phenomena in the Soviet Un... Read more