Description

Vladimir Nabokov s extraordinary literary career, as a master of Russian and English prose, is unique. Acclaimed in the limited Russian emigre world, under the name of Sirin, Nabokov switched to writing in English and settled in America, a refugee from Hitler s Europe. Exile, memory, lost love and the magic of childhood are among his themes; stylistic and structural dexterity are his hallmarks; Lolita (ranked number 4 in the 1998 New York Modern Library list of 100 best novels of the century published in English) enabled him to retire to a final and productive period of European residence. Film versions of his most controversial novel keep Nabokov s name before the public, while almost his entire oeuvre remains currently available in paperback. Neil Cornwell s study, published for the Nabokov centenary, examines five of Nabokov s major novels, plus his short stories and critical writings, situating his work against the ever-expanding mass of VN scholarship, and noting his cultural debt to Russia, Europe, America and the British Isles.