{"title":"Vladimir Nabokov","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"lolita","title":"Lolita","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFirst published in Paris in 1955, Vladimir Nabokov’s \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLolita\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is one of the most dazzling and unsettling novels of the twentieth century. Narrated by Humbert Humbert, a cultivated European intellectual whose eloquence conceals his predatory obsession with twelve-year-old Dolores Haze, the novel follows their journey across post-war America, exposing the terrible distance between the narrator’s seductive language and the reality of his actions. Nabokov transforms the conventions of the road novel into something deeply disturbing, filling the prose with wordplay, literary allusions and exquisite descriptions that continually test the reader’s trust in the voice telling the story. Beneath its verbal brilliance lies a searching examination of manipulation, moral evasion and the power of storytelling to distort what we see.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eInitially published in English by the Olympia Press in Paris, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLolita\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e brought Nabokov international notoriety and became a lasting controversy in literary and cultural history. Its intricate construction asks readers to distinguish aesthetic beauty from ethical truth, and to recognise how charm and sophistication can be used to conceal cruelty. Nabokov’s mastery of unreliable narration makes the act of reading itself part of the novel’s moral tension, while its distinctive voice has secured its place among the defining achievements of modern fiction. Brilliant, disturbing and impossible to reduce to a single interpretation, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLolita\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e remains a formidable study of language, obsession and the dangers of surrendering judgement to a persuasive narrator.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFrom the book\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“You can always count on a murderer for a fancy prose style.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e— Vladimir Nabokov, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLolita\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOn \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLolita\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“Nabokov’s success lay in maintaining a total artistic absorption in his character, without ever sentimentally excusing his acts.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e— Peter Shaw, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe New York Review of Books\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardner's EU","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":64026828341578,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}]},{"product_id":"pale-fire","title":"Pale Fire","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublished in 1962, Vladimir Nabokov’s \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePale Fire\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is an ingenious literary puzzle disguised as a scholarly edition of a poem. At its centre lies a 999-line verse work by John Shade, a celebrated American poet, accompanied by a foreword, commentary and index written by his colleague Charles Kinbote, whose increasingly eccentric annotations begin to eclipse the poem itself. As Kinbote attempts to interpret Shade’s verses, he unfolds an elaborate tale of a lost kingdom, a deposed king and political intrigue, weaving his own obsessions into the poet’s reflections on mortality, memory and the afterlife. The boundary between literary criticism and storytelling grows ever more uncertain, inviting the reader to question not only the commentator’s reliability but the very nature of authorship and truth.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAmong Nabokov’s most formally audacious novels, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePale Fire\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e turns the apparatus of literary scholarship into an instrument of comedy, suspense and psychological revelation. Its intricate structure rewards close reading, while its verbal brilliance and shifting perspectives expose the fragile line between imagination and delusion. Beneath the playful artifice lies a moving meditation on grief, artistic creation and the human desire to impose meaning upon experience. Both a dazzling satire of interpretation and a work of extraordinary emotional complexity, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePale Fire\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e stands as one of the defining achievements of twentieth-century experimental fiction.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFrom the book\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“I was the shadow of the waxwing slain \/ By the false azure in the windowpane.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e— Vladimir Nabokov, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePale Fire\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOn \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePale Fire\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“A creation of perfect beauty, symmetry, strangeness, originality and moral truth.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e— Mary McCarthy, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe New Republic\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardner's EU","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":64026861273418,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}]},{"product_id":"pnin","title":"Pnin","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublished in 1957, Vladimir Nabokov’s \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePnin\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e follows Timofey Pnin, a Russian émigré teaching at an American university, whose attempts to build a settled life are continually unsettled by linguistic misunderstandings, social awkwardness and the unpredictable turns of memory. With his formal English, misplaced confidence and endearing absent-mindedness, Pnin navigates a world that never quite feels like home, carrying within him the vanished landscapes and lost intimacies of pre-revolutionary Russia. Nabokov renders his predicament with exquisite comic precision, allowing small mishaps and everyday humiliations to reveal the deeper dislocation of exile. Yet beneath the comedy lies a tender portrait of a man whose dignity persists despite the indifference of the world around him.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eAmong Nabokov’s most humane novels, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePnin\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e draws on the author’s own experience of displacement while exploring the fragility of belonging, the persistence of memory and the ways people invent themselves in unfamiliar surroundings. Its shifting narrative perspective complicates the apparent simplicity of Pnin’s story, making the novel as much a reflection on storytelling as a study of its protagonist. Nabokov’s wit never entirely conceals his compassion for those who live between languages, countries and versions of the past. Both a subtle comedy of academic life and a moving meditation on exile, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePnin\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e offers a gentler, more intimate counterpoint to the darker psychological intricacies of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eLolita\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFrom the book\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“I am not handsome, I am not interesting, I am not talented. I am not even rich. But, Lise, I offer you everything I have, to the last blood corpuscle, to the last tear, everything.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e— Vladimir Nabokov, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePnin\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOn \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePnin\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“A novel of great charm and considerable pathos.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e— \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe New York Times\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardner's EU","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":64026966458698,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}]},{"product_id":"speak-memory","title":"Speak, Memory","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFirst published in 1951 as \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eConclusive Evidence\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e and substantially revised in 1966, Vladimir Nabokov’s \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSpeak, Memory\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e transforms autobiography into an art of extraordinary precision and radiance. Recalling his Russian childhood among cultivated aristocratic families, his early fascination with literature and butterflies, and the upheaval of revolution and exile, Nabokov reconstructs a world that has vanished yet remains vivid in the imagination. From the family estates near St Petersburg to his years in England and continental Europe, the memoir moves through moments of beauty, eccentricity, longing and loss. Its organising principle is not chronology alone, but the intricate, unpredictable workings of memory itself.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWritten in the luminous prose that distinguishes his fiction, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSpeak, Memory\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is as much a meditation on time, identity and the nature of artistic creation as it is a portrait of a life. Nabokov’s gift for exact detail turns childhood recollections into scenes of almost painterly clarity, while his characteristic wit lends elegance to even the most painful passages of displacement. The result occupies a singular place in twentieth-century literature: an autobiography in which the past is not simply recovered, but remade through the imagination.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFrom the book\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“I witness with pleasure the supreme achievement of memory, which is the masterly use it makes of innate harmonies when gathering to its fold the suspended and wandering tonalities of the past.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e— Vladimir Nabokov, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSpeak, Memory\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOn \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eSpeak, Memory\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“One of the great autobiographies of the twentieth century.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003e— Brian Boyd, Nabokov biographer and critic\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardner's EU","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":64026978484554,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}]}],"url":"https:\/\/thelamppostparis.com\/fr\/collections\/vladimir-nabokov.oembed","provider":"The Lamp-Post Library \u0026 Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}