Cambridge University Press 052153643X - The Cambridge Companion to Nabokov Edited by Julian W. Connolly Frontmatter More information The Cambridge Companion to Nabokov Vladimir Nabokov held the unique distinction of being one of the most impor- tant writers of the twentieth century in two separate languages, Russian and English. Known for his verbal mastery and bold plots, Nabokov fashioned a literary legacy that continues to grow in significance. This volume offers a con- cise and informative introduction to the author’s fascinating creative world. Specially commissioned essays by distinguished scholars illuminate numerous facets of the writer’s legacy, from his early contributions as a poet and short- story writer to his dazzling achievements as one of the most original novelists of the twentieth century. Topics receiving fresh coverage include Nabokov’s narrative strategies, the evolution of his worldview, and his relationship to the literary and cultural currents of his day. The volume also contains valuable supplementary material such as a chronology of the writer’s life and a guide to further critical reading. © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 052153643X - The Cambridge Companion to Nabokov Edited by Julian W. Connolly Frontmatter More information THE CAMBRIDGE COMPANION TO NABOKOV EDITED BY JULIAN W. CONNOLLY University of Virginia © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 052153643X - The Cambridge Companion to Nabokov Edited by Julian W. Connolly Frontmatter More information cambridge university press Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, Sao˜ Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge cb2 2ru,UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521536431 C Cambridge University Press 2005 This book is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2005 Printed in the United Kingdom at the University Press, Cambridge A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library isbn-100521829577hardback isbn-10052153643X paperback isbn-139780521829571hardback isbn-13 978 0 521 53643 1 paperback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this book, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 052153643X - The Cambridge Companion to Nabokov Edited by Julian W. Connolly Frontmatter More information CONTENTS Notes on contributors page vii Acknowledgments xi Note on transliteration xii List of abbreviations xiii Chronology xv Introduction: the many faces of Vladimir Nabokov 1 julian w. connolly Part I: Contexts 1 Strong opinions and nerve points: Nabokov’s life and art 11 zoran kuzmanovich 2 Nabokov as storyteller 31 brian boyd 3 Nabokov as a Russian writer 49 alexander dolinin 4 “By some sleight of land”: how Nabokov rewrote America 65 susan elizabeth sweeney 5 Nabokov and modernism 85 john burt foster, jr. Part II: Works 6 Nabokov as poet 103 barry p. scherr v © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 052153643X - The Cambridge Companion to Nabokov Edited by Julian W. Connolly Frontmatter More information contents 7 Nabokov’s short fiction 119 priscilla meyer 8 The major Russian novels 135 julian w. connolly 9 From Sirin to Nabokov: the transition to English 151 neil cornwell 10 Nabokov’s biographical impulse: art of writing lives 170 galya diment 11 The Lolita phenomenon from Paris to Tehran 185 ellen pifer 12 Nabokov’s late fiction 200 michael wood Part III: Related worlds 13 Nabokov and cinema 215 barbara wyllie 14 Nabokov’s worldview 232 leona toker Guide to further reading 248 Index 254 vi © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 052153643X - The Cambridge Companion to Nabokov Edited by Julian W. Connolly Frontmatter More information NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS brian boyd is University Distinguished Professor in the Department of English, University of Auckland. He is the author of Vladimir Nabokov: The Russian Years (1990), Vladimir Nabokov: The American Years (1991), Nabokov’s Pale Fire: The Magic of Artistic Discovery (1999), Nabokov’s Ada: The Place of Consciousness (1985, second edn 2001), and “Annotations to Ada”(The Nabokovian, 1993–; as ADAonline, at http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/ada/index.htm). He is the edi- tor of the Library of America’s publication of Nabokov’s English nov- els and autobiography (3 vols., 1996), and with Robert Michael Pyle, of Nabokov’s Butterflies (2000). He is also editing, with Stanislav Shvabrin, Verses and Versions (Nabokov’s verse translations), and with Olga Voron- ina, To Vera´ (Nabokov’s letters to his wife). Among other work he also publishes on Shakespeare and on evolution and fiction, and is currently writing Heads and Tales: The Origin of Stories. julian w. connolly is Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Virginia. He is the author of Ivan Bunin (1982), Nabokov’s Early Fiction: Patterns of Self and Other (1992), and The Inti- mate Stranger: Meetings with the Devil in Nineteenth-Century Russian Literature (2001). He also edited the volumes Nabokov’s Invitation to a Beheading: A Course Companion (1997) and Nabokov and His Fiction: New Perspectives (1999). He has written extensively on nineteenth- and twentieth-century Russian literature. neil cornwell is Professor of Russian and Comparative Literature at the University of Bristol. Among his authored books are Vladimir Nabokov (in the series “Writers and Their Works,” 1999), James Joyce and the Russians (1992), and The Literary Fantastic (1990). He is also the editor of the Reference Guide to Russian Literature (1998) and The Routledge Companion to Russian Literature (2001). He has translated vii © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 052153643X - The Cambridge Companion to Nabokov Edited by Julian W. Connolly Frontmatter More information notes on contributors collections of the stories of Vladimir Odoevsky (The Salamander and Other Gothic Tales, 1992) and Daniil Kharms (Incidences, 1993), and his edition of Maiakovsky’s My Discovery of America is forthcoming. He is currently completing a general study of the absurd in literature. alexander a. dolinin is Professor of Russian Literature in the Depart- ment of Slavic Languages and Literatures at the University of Wisconsin- Madison. He is the author of Istoriia, odetaia v roman. Valter Skott i ego chitateli (1988) and Istinnaia zhizn pisatelia Sirina. Raboty o Nabokove (2004). He helped to edit and annotate Nabokov’s collected works in Russian (5 vols., 1999–2000) and in French (Pleiade edition). He has writ- ten over 100 articles, with scholarly interest in Nabokov, Pushkin, Russian literature of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and Russian–English literary connections. john burt foster, jr. is Professor of English and Cultural Studies at George Mason University. He is the author of Nabokov’s Art of Memory and European Modernism (1993), of numerous articles on the contexts of Nabokov’s fiction, and of many other publications on nineteenth- and twentieth-century literature and thought. He recently completed a six-year term as editor of The Comparatist and has co-edited Thresholds of Western Culture: Identity, Postcoloniality, Transnationalism for the International Association for Philosophy and Literature. galya diment is Professor and Chair of the Department of Slavic Lan- guages and Literatures at the University of Washington, Seattle. She is the author and editor of four books, including Pniniad: Vladimir Nabokov and Marc Szeftel (1997). She is currently co-editing a Modern Language Association volume on approaches to teaching Lolita and writing a cul- tural biography of Samuel Koteliansky, a Russian translator for Blooms- bury’s Hogarth Press. zoran kuzmanovich teaches literature and film at Davidson College. He writes on the relations among arts, ethics, and politics. Since 1996 he has served as the editor of Nabokov Studies. priscilla meyer is Professor of Russian Language and Literature at Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut. She published the first monograph on Vladimir Nabokov’s Pale Fire, Find What the Sailor Has Hidden (1988), and edited Andrei Bitov’s collected stories, Life in Windy Weather (1986). She is co-editor of collections on Gogol, Dostoevsky, and Nabokov, and has written articles on Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol, Dos- toevsky, Tolstoy, Nabokov, and Soviet prose writers of the 1960s–1970s. viii © Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org Cambridge University Press 052153643X - The Cambridge Companion to Nabokov Edited by Julian W. Connolly Frontmatter More information notes on contributors Her most recent book is How the Russians Read the French: Lermontov, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy (forthcoming). ellen pifer is Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Delaware. She has written five books and dozens of essays on modern and contemporary literature. Her numerous studies of Nabokov include Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita: A Casebook (2003), chapter four of her Demon