Nabokov and the Real World

Nabokov and the Real World PDF Author: Robert Alter
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691211930
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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Book Description
"This book collects book includes eleven pieces about Vladimir Nabokov. A common thread connects the articles, which is an underlying sense that Nabokov's fiction resonantly addresses the realm beyond literature that we call, perhaps for want of a better term-and it is a word toward which he himself was dismissive-reality. . . . Nabokov was an existentially serious writer in the midst of being a playful one. He cared deeply about human relationships and their potential distortions, about love and the pain it often entails, and about what was happening in the larger historical theater. He firmly resisted attachment to political parties and trends. Yet he was acutely sensitive to the ways in which political ideologies could pervert or destroy human values and powerfully registered this awareness in several of his novels. His fiction poignantly conveys the burden of loss with which many must live-the loss of loved ones, of moral certainties, of homeland, of language and familiar cultural setting. In what the author has written on Nabokov, he has sought to give this large dimension of Nabokov's novels and stories more attention than it has often received"--

Nabokov and the Real World

Nabokov and the Real World PDF Author: Robert Alter
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691211930
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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Book Description
"This book collects book includes eleven pieces about Vladimir Nabokov. A common thread connects the articles, which is an underlying sense that Nabokov's fiction resonantly addresses the realm beyond literature that we call, perhaps for want of a better term-and it is a word toward which he himself was dismissive-reality. . . . Nabokov was an existentially serious writer in the midst of being a playful one. He cared deeply about human relationships and their potential distortions, about love and the pain it often entails, and about what was happening in the larger historical theater. He firmly resisted attachment to political parties and trends. Yet he was acutely sensitive to the ways in which political ideologies could pervert or destroy human values and powerfully registered this awareness in several of his novels. His fiction poignantly conveys the burden of loss with which many must live-the loss of loved ones, of moral certainties, of homeland, of language and familiar cultural setting. In what the author has written on Nabokov, he has sought to give this large dimension of Nabokov's novels and stories more attention than it has often received"--

Nabokov and the Real World

Nabokov and the Real World PDF Author: Robert Alter
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691218668
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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Book Description
From award-winning literary scholar Robert Alter, a masterful exploration of how Nabokov used artifice to evoke the dilemmas, pain, and exaltation of the human condition Admirers and detractors of Vladimir Nabokov have viewed him as an ingenious contriver of literary games, teasing and even outsmarting his readers through his self-reflexive artifice and the many codes and puzzles he devises in his fiction. Nabokov himself spoke a number of times about reality as a term that always has to be put in scare quotes. Consequently, many critics and readers have thought of him as a writer uninterested in the world outside literature. Robert Alter shows how Nabokov was passionately concerned with the real world and its complexities, from love and loss to exile, freedom, and the impact of contemporary politics on our lives. In these illuminating and exquisitely written essays, Alter spans the breadth of Nabokov's writings, from his memoir, lectures, and short stories to major novels such as Lolita. He demonstrates how the self-reflexivity of Nabokov's fiction becomes a vehicle for expressing very real concerns. What emerges is a portrait of a brilliant stylist who is at once serious and playful, who cared deeply about human relationships and the burden of loss, and who was acutely sensitive to the ways political ideologies can distort human values. Offering timeless insights into literature’s most fabulous artificer, Nabokov and the Real World makes an elegant and compelling case for Nabokov's relevance today.

The Real Life of Sebastian Knight

The Real Life of Sebastian Knight PDF Author: Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov
Publisher: New Directions Publishing
ISBN: 9780811217507
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 228

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Book Description
Nabokov's first novel in English, one of his greatest and most overlooked, with a new Introduction by Michael Dirda.

The Real Lolita

The Real Lolita PDF Author: Sarah Weinman
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 1474605621
Category : True Crime
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita is one of the most beloved and notorious novels of all time. And yet, very few of its readers know that the subject of the novel was inspired by a real-life case: the 1948 abduction of eleven-year-old Sally Horner. Weaving together suspenseful crime narrative, cultural and social history, and literary investigation, The Real Lolita restores Sally Horner to her rightful place in the lore of the novel's creation. Drawing upon extensive investigations, legal documents, public records, and interviews with remaining relatives, Sarah Weinman casts a new light on the dark inspiration for a modern classic.

Lolita

Lolita PDF Author: Vladimir Nabokov
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0307744027
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 338

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Book Description
The most famous and controversial novel from one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century tells the story of Humbert Humbert’s obsessive, devouring, and doomed passion for the nymphet Dolores Haze. "The conjunction of a sense of humor with a sense of horror [results in] satire of a very special kind." —The New Yorker Awe and exhilaration—along with heartbreak and mordant wit—abound in Lolita, which tells the story of the aging Humbert Humbert's obsession for the nymphet Dolores Haze. Lolita is also the story of a hypercivilized European colliding with the cheerful barbarism of postwar America. Most of all, it is a meditation on love—love as outrage and hallucination, madness and transformation.

The Unreal Life of Sergey Nabokov

The Unreal Life of Sergey Nabokov PDF Author: Paul Elliott Russell
Publisher: Cleis Press
ISBN: 1573447196
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 385

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Book Description
Presents a fictionalized portrait of the life of Serey Nabokov, the gay brother of the writer Vladimir Nabokov, and his struggles with his homosexuality and adventures in the salons and clubs of pre-war Europe.

Nabokov's Personal Demons in the Real Life of Sebastian Knight and Pale Fire

Nabokov's Personal Demons in the Real Life of Sebastian Knight and Pale Fire PDF Author: S. Arber
Publisher: Big Tree Books
ISBN: 0989152316
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 87

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Book Description
An analysis of Vladimir Nabokov's personal demons—powerful feelings of guilt and loss—that are manifested in two of his most famous novels.

Vladimir Nabokov: Novels and Memoirs 1941-1951 (LOA #87)

Vladimir Nabokov: Novels and Memoirs 1941-1951 (LOA #87) PDF Author: Vladimir Nabokov
Publisher: Library of America Vladimir Na
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 744

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Book Description
Novels 1969 1974, Ada, Transparent Things, Look at the Harlequins.

Insomniac Dreams

Insomniac Dreams PDF Author: Vladimir Nabokov
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691196907
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 224

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Book Description
First publication of an index-card diary in which Nabokov recorded sixty-four dreams and subsequent daytime episodes, allowing the reader a glimpse of his innermost life.

A Taste for Honey

A Taste for Honey PDF Author: H. F. Heard
Publisher: Open Road Media
ISBN: 1504037766
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 174

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Book Description
A remarkable retelling of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s great mysteries starring the one man in England smarter than Sherlock Holmes: his older brother, Mycroft. In a quiet village far from the noise of Victorian London, Sydney Silchester lives the life of a recluse, venturing out only when his stores run low. But when his honey supplier is found stung to death by her hive, the search for a new beekeeper takes him to the most interesting man in England—a man whose brilliant mind will lure Sydney into a life-threatening adventure. When Mycroft Holmes learns of the tragic death of the village’s other beekeeper, he senses the bloody hand of murder. But what villain would have the mad intelligence to train an army of killer bees? With Sydney at his side, Mycroft searches the village for a new kind of murderer: one who kills without motive. Author H. F. Heard, undoubtedly one of the great intellectuals of his day, brings an utterly unique detective to life in his Mycroft Holmes mystery series. But just who is Mr. Mycroft? Devotees of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle will find he’s every inch a match for his legendary brother, Sherlock. A Taste of Honey is the 1st book in the Mycroft Holmes Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.