Where To Start With Vladimir Nabokov

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Where To Start With Vladimir Nabokov
0:00: Intro
2:04: Lolita
5:40: Pale Fire
8:53: Pnin
11:53: The Luzhin Defense
12:51: Speak, Memory
14:37: Ada, or Ardor
16:55: Despair
18:41: Collected Poems
20:27: Invitation to a Beheading
The 'Invitation to a Beheading' short:
• Invitation to a beheading
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[@MrModest15]

So far my absolute favourite of his is ‘Despair‘. His russian is impeccable and the ending caught me off guard!

[@rooruffneck]

If you are aiming for simple beauty, start with GLORY.
GLORY reincarnates as my favorite of his novels THE GIFT.
PNIN is a great starting point for most happy readers.

[@YvesThePoet]

The first Nabokov book I read was Laughter In the Dark and I loved it! Similar to Lolita in a few ways. His shorts are also very good. This has given me a good list - thanks!

[@1siddynickhead]

I also started with Lolita and loved it! I subbed when i saw the title of the video, Nabokov doesn't get enough love on booktube...
Completely agree with you, thw writing in Lolita is sublime..i didn't realise writing could be that good

[@socalwill9876]

Would strongly recommend reading Pale Fire before Lolita so that the reader can grasp Nabokov's sense of humor before dealing with the latter's subject matter; too many readers approach Lolita as a "dirty book" and then set out to review it that way (see Goodreads/most of the RUclips reviews,) which is a bit silly once you realize Nabokov is merely taking comedic joy in putting a thumb in the eye of some weaker kinds of narcissistic personalities. But I will agree that Pale Fire is the better book 👍

[@Bdvi013]

Nabokov is one of my favourite authors, but I started with Lolita when I was a teenager and for me personally it was not the smartest idea😅 My favorite so far is Ada or Ardor, but I haven’t read Pale fire yet! Also, The Gift is great (and The real life of Sebastian Knight is another good starting point in my opinion)

[@vladasparrow8391]

I recommend the collection of short stories "Nabokov's Dozen". I especially like the story of "The Vane Sisters." I advise you to read it without looking at the notes. There is real Nabokov magic going on there.

[@mikesmithz]

Don't start with Lolita as it will ruin you forever. You will never read anything else as perfectly written as that book.

[@ReadingIDEAS.-uz9xk]

Plenty in your library to keep you busy and out of mischief. Best wishes and happy reading.

[@strange.lucidity]

I definitely have to get into Nabokov in a big way. I've only read Lolita, and that too long ago and too fast so I didn't appreciate it as much as I think I would now. Then I wanted to read Pale Fire and was afraid it would be too difficult for me. What you said about the translated works was interesting... This is a really great example to have two works my the same author in different languages. Russian is so different from English that I can only imagine it feeling a little flat/different/not as flow-y. I had to think about that the other day when I was playing something on the piano that it not originally for piano. And it felt so unnatural and halting... I felt like I couldn't play anymore. I practiced a lot but couldn't get it to flow; and I went to my teacher half-apologising for not being able to do it XD and she said "Oh no, I feel the same way. It's because it's not written for piano!" I fear that translation often has similar effects...

[@readreadofficial]

I think you'd love Pale Fire. It's definitely more postmodern than Lolita, but it has the same brilliant prose.
Your point on music is really interesting, and I never made the same connection to translated works. It's reminded me of (and I'm pretty sure it's this, just going off memory) Rimsky-Korsakov's 'Principles of Orchestration' where he makes the point to 'compose for the instrumentation that you have', and that, as a composer, you'll have a harder time turning a solo piano piece into an orchestral arrangement, you may as well write it as an orchestra piece. There are some examples of orchestrations ending up better than the original (Ravel's orch. of 'Pictures at an Exhibition) but I find it hard to imagine a work of literature that ends up being better translated. I'd love to get your multilingual take on that.

[@aklcraigc]

True story: A couple of years ago I walked into a bookstore. They had a first edition "Pale Fire", the guy behind the counter asked, haughtily, if I'd read it. I replied "Yes, three times".

[@readreadofficial]

I'm due for a reread!

[@edennestorovic4752]

Hi nick!

[@waffle.23]

Insightful video! Pnin is probably the one I'll start with. I did pick up Lolita used recently but in swedish translation. And since I have no issues reading in english im thinking it was an unnecessary pickup since i wouldnt wanna miss out on nabokovs prose.
You mentioned Gaddis, is diving straight into the recognitions the way to go, or would it be fine to start with one of his shorter books?

[@eskybakzu712]

Börja med "The Recognitions". Det är förmodligen en av, om inte nittonhundratalets mest underskattade roman. Under min tid i Uppsala stötte jag inte på en enda professor eller lektor som ens kände till den. Boken är ett fantastiskt panorama över nittonhundratalets existensvillkor och egentligen hela västerlandets intellektuella och konstnärliga utveckling; den belönar oändligt såväl omläsning som närläsning eftersom Gaddis liksom andra av tidens giganter inom romankonst har både en till synes encyklopedisk kunskap om litteratur(läs konst(human(kultur(civilizations)-)historians kanon och en stor, säg, poetisk styrka. Vill du göra det till ett projekt kan du läsa Gaddis andliga/poetiska föregångare T.S Eliot och Rilke (i synnerhet "The Four Quartets" och Duinoelegierna); de citeras ofta i texten: eller hans teoretiska föregångare James George Frazer (Golden Bough) och Oswald Spengler (Decline of the West). Om du gillar sekundärlitteratur kan du läsa "Carnival of Repetition" av John Johnston. Steven Moore har mycket intressant att säga om Gaddis och är delvis personligen ansvarig för att Gaddis har återupptäckts av samtiden; han har publicerat sin bok av annoteringar till "The Recognitions" helt gratis online, där han kommenterar i stort sett varje sida i hela boken. Här är länken dit: www.williamgaddis.org/recognitions/trguide.shtml
Förresten; läs "Lolita" i den ursprungliga engelskan; en av verkets och Nabokovs viktigaste ambitioner är att visa hur språket kan förändra och sålunda förvränga världen som sådan.