Vladimir Vladimirovich left, without exaggeration, a huge creative legacy to his descendants. The main books that have been published in our country by Nabokov are works, the list of which can be compiled as follows: Mashenka (1929), King, Queen, Jack (1928), written in 1930, Luzhin's Defense and The Return of Chorb ", in 1932 -" Feat ", in 1936 -" Circle ", in 1937-38 -" Gift ", as well as" Spies "(1938) and others. At the same time, he published many poems, such dramas as "Death", "Grandfather", "Plus", "Wanderers", many translations, including works for children, such as L. Carroll "Anya in Wonderland" , plays in prose. All of them were written in Russian, but this author also wrote in English.
What will you find in this article?
In this article, we will introduce you to the main creations that Nabokov created. The works, the list of which is brought to your attention, includes both written in Russian and in English. At the latter, the author worked when he lived in the USA.
The American period includes the works of Nabokov "Lolita", "The Real Life of Sebastian Knight", "Ghostly Things", "Under the Sign of the Illegitimate", "Look at the Harlequins!" This author also translated Russian poets of the 19th century into English. He commented line by line and translated, in particular, “Eugene Onegin,” and published lectures on Russian literature that he delivered at Cornwall University and Walesley College.
He also contributed a significant dramatic legacy: Vladimir Vladimirovich wrote nine plays, as well as a script for the film based on the novel "Lolita".
We will describe the most famous works of Nabokov, their characteristic features and a brief summary.
"Masha"
This first author’s novel, written in 1926, is the most “Russian” of all his works in this genre. The reader is enveloped in it by the atmosphere of the phantom of being, of strangeness. The work depicts genuine fates that Nabokov's talent turned into fictional. In "Other Shores" in 1954 he outlined the actual incidents that gave rise to the novel, naming the real place of action - the banks of the Oderezh River, located under Petrograd. Thus, the work is semi-biographical.
The book describes life in a Russian guesthouse located in Berlin, Russian immigrants. Ganin, the main character, in the story of Alferov, his neighbor, recognizes his former love and decides to meet the girl at the station. But at the last moment he realizes that the past cannot be returned, and therefore goes to another station, deciding to leave Berlin forever.
Already in this work there is a main cross-cutting theme in the work of Nabokov: the theme of two houses. The house, where the protagonist temporarily resides, is not only transparent for trains, but also transparent for the reader - this is a symbol of the past as such. At the end of the work, Ganin finally understands that the image of Masha dear to his heart will forever remain in this place of "shadows." And after this, another house appears, which is still under construction.
"Luzhin's defense"
This work was created in 1930, this is the third Russian novel by Vladimir Nabokov, which brought him to the first row of the literary Russian abroad, making the author a big name. The plot is based on the life events of a friend of the writer, Kurt von Bardeleben, who committed suicide in 1924. The reader behind the twists and turns of life of a one-sided, albeit brilliant, hero, mad and gifted Russian chess player Alexander Ivanovich Luzhin, who emigrated from the country, opens up the most important and constant theme of the writer's work - the repetition and development of secret themes in the fate of man. The chess defense, which is developed by the main character, gradually becomes an allegory of protection from real life, in which the consciousness, traumatized by the disease, sees the ominous actions of unknown forces, similar to chess moves. In the repetitions of the events of his biography, Alexander Ivanovich sees the fateful moves of his opponent - fate, and, not finding the opportunity to solve her secret, he chooses the way out of the game - the only possible solution.
"Invitation to execution"
We continue to describe the works of Nabokov. The next novel, which we will consider, was created in 1936. The time and place of action is not so simple to determine - it can be conditionally imagined that the writer depicts the distant future of our country, when civilization stalled and degenerated. The protagonist of the work should be executed for the so-called "opacity" and "epistemological vileness", it is assumed that he must reconcile and passively accept his demise. However, at the last moment, he understands the illusory nature of the world in which he exists, refuses non-resistance and emerges from this situation as the winner.
"Gift"
The following creation, relating to the list of "the best works of Nabokov," was created by him in 1938. It is in the form of a meta-fan who combined poetry and prose. A work was written in Russian during the life of the writer in Germany. The protagonist has some features of the biography of the author himself: he is an emigrant, a young poet, the son of a famous scientist who lives during the events taking place in a work in a rented apartment. Its owners are a former prosecutor who is an anti-Semite, as well as his wife and her daughter from their first marriage. The latter falls in love with the main character. For a number of reasons, the relationship of lovers cannot enter into a period of intimacy. The chapter “Gift”, the fourth in the novel, is a “book in a book”, its content is a presentation of the ideas and biography of Nikolai Chernyshevsky.
Lolita
The next chronological work of Nabokov, relating to his best creations, is Lolita. This novel was written in 1955. According to many literary scholars, the story of how an adult man passionately carried away by a girl who was only twelve years old is the pinnacle of the whole heritage, the creator of which is Vladimir Nabokov. The works that make up the main part of his work cannot be imagined without mentioning "Lolita". In the story, the main character torments the girl with his unrequited love and ultimately loses it. Nabokov's work "Lolita" brought the author world fame.
Pnin
This creation was created by Vladimir Vladimirovich in the United States, published in English, is the fourth novel in this language. Its main character is Timofey Pnin, professor of literature and the Russian language. He is shown by the writer with a slight irony as a representative of the Russian intelligentsia of the old school, trying to become his own in the academic environment of America, but in a comic way that does not get along with the language spoken by the students, which, together with his absent-mindedness, funny appearance and awkwardness in handling objects, turns this figure into a local curious attraction. Gradually, however, this eccentric, unlucky and touching ridiculous title character reveals itself to us as a multifaceted, complex person, whose fate united moments of genuine tragedy and supreme happiness, whose life, like any human, forms a mixture of inescapable sadness and unspeakable charm ... The background on which the story unfolds is a picture of life in the United States of Russian emigrants of the first wave.
"Laura and her original"
We continue our analysis of the works of Nabokov. The novel, which we will consider at the very end of the article, was started by the author in 1977, remained incomplete and was published only after the death of Nabokov, contrary to the will of his father, Dmitry Vladimirovich, the son of the writer. The basis of the book is relations with the current and former lovers of Philip Wilde, a neurologist. This work is an original, brilliant and essentially revolutionary thing, which is, as it were, the quintessence of the work of such a writer as Nabokov.
The best works in the opinion of critics were briefly reviewed by us in this article. The list can be continued to better familiarize yourself with the work of this author. At the very beginning, we listed his other novels and plays, which can be addressed. Also, in order to better understand the work of Vladimir Vladimirovich, you can watch films based on the works of Nabokov. There are quite a lot of screen versions now, both Russian and foreign. An example is Adrian Line's Lolita film, released in 1997.