The Eye (Penguin Modern Classics) - Softcover

Nabokov, Vladimir

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140184821 ISBN 13: 9780140184822

Publisher: Penguin Classics, 1992

Synopsis

Nabokov’s fourth novel, The Eye is as much a farcical detective story as it is a profoundly refractive tale about the vicissitudes of identities and appearances. Smurov, a lovelorn, excruciatingly self-conscious Russian émigré living in pre-war Berlin, commits suicide after being humiliated by a jealous husband, only to suffer even greater indignities in the afterlife as he searches for proof of his existence among fellow émigrés who are too distracted to pay him any heed.

“Nabokov writes prose the only way it should be written, that is, ecstatically.” —John Updike

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

Nabokov's fourth novel, The Eye is as much a farcical detective story as it is a profoundly refractive tale about the vicissitudes of identities and appearances. Nabokov's protagonist, Smurov, is a lovelorn, excruciatingly self-conscious Russian emigre living in prewar Berlin, who commits suicide after being humiliated by a jealous husband, only to suffer even greater indignities in the afterlife.

About the Author:

One of the twentieth century’s master prose stylists, Vladimir Nabokov was born in St. Petersburg in 1899. He studied French and Russian literature at Trinity College, Cambridge, then lived in Berlin and Paris, where he launched a brilliant literary career. In 1940 he moved to the United States, and achieved renown as a novelist, poet, critic and translator. He taught literature at Wellesley, Stanford, Cornell, and Harvard. In 1961 he moved to Montreux, Switzerland, where he died in 1977.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Classics
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 0140184821
• ISBN 13: 9780140184822
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 96