Nabokov: Novels 1955-1962: Lolita / Pnin / Pale Fire (Library of America)

This Library of America volume is the second of three volumes presenting the most authoritative versions of the English works of the brilliant Russian migr Vladimir Nabokov. Lolita (1955) Nabokovs single most famous work is one of the most controversial and widely read books of its time. Funny satiric poignant filled with allusions to earlier American writers it is the confession of a middle-aged sophisticated European migrs passionate obsession with a twelve-year-old American nymphet and the story of their wanderings across a late 1940s America of highways and motels. (Nabokovs film adaptation of Lolita as originally written for director Stanley Kubrick is also included.) Pnin (1957) is a comic masterpiece about a gentle bald Russian migr professor in an American college town who is never quite able to master its language its politics or its train schedule. Nabokovs years as a teacher provided rich background for this satirical picture of academic life with an unforgettable figure at its center: It was the world that was absent-minded and it was Pnin whose business it was to set it straight. His life was a constant war with insensate objects that fell apart or attacked him or refused to function or viciously got themselves lost as soon as they entered the sphere of his existence. Pale Fire (1962) is a tour de force in the form of an ostensibly autobiographical poem by a recently deceased American poet and a critical commentary by an academic who is something other than what he seems. Its unique structure pitting artist against seemingly worshipful critic sets the stage for some of Nabokovs most intricate games of deception and concealment. The texts of this volume incorporate Nabokovs penciled corrections in his own copies of his works which correct long-standing errors and have been prepared with the assistance of Dmitri Nabokov the novelists son. LIBRARY OF AMERICA is an independent nonprofit cultural organization founded in 1979 to preserve our nations literary heritage by publishing and keeping permanently in print Americas best and most significant writing. The Library of America series includes more than 300 volumes to date authoritative editions that average 1 000 pages in length feature cloth covers sewn bindings and ribbon markers and are printed on premium acid-free paper that will last for centuries.