About this title: Deeply influenced by ALICE IN WONDERLAND (which Nabokov translated into Russian), this is a novel about a love triangle: a callow youth named Franz; the wealthy uncle who employs him in his glitzy Berlin emporium; and the uncle's wife, Martha, who seduces Franz. The novel was written during Nabokov's 18-year exile in Berlin where--impoverished, ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Unknown Binding
Publisher: Heron Books
Date Published: 1968
Description: Very Good in Good + jacket. First Edition. -Stated First Edition--Little to no signs of use. Jacket has light signs of wear. 272 pages. -Publish Place: New York-Size: 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. read more
Edition: First edition.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: McGraw-Hill, New York
Date Published: 1968
Description: Very good in good dust jacket-no marks or writing. Stated First Edition. Dust jacket with light shelf wear and a few small tears. Text in English, Russian. xi, 272 p. 22 cm. Translation of Korol dama, valet. read more
Description: Good. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Edition: Book Club Edition.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: McGraw-Hill, New York
Date Published: 1968
Description: Very good in good dust jacket. Pages are clean and unmarked throughout. Cover shows modest wear. Dust jacket has tear at upper edge. Text in English, Russian. xi, 272 p. 22 cm. Translation of Korol dama, valet. read more
Edition: First edition.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: McGraw-Hill, New York
Date Published: 1968
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. Book is in near fine condition, pages are clean and unmarked, cover shows slight wear. Dust jacket has some edgewear. Text in English, Russian. xi, 272 p. 22 cm. Translation of Korol dama, valet. read more
Edition: First edition.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: McGraw-Hill, New York
Date Published: 1968
Description: Very good in good dust jacket. Very Good Copy, Hardcover text is Clean and unmarked, binding is tight, Dust jacket has creasing and wear. and tearing. Text in English, Russian. xi, 272 p. 22 cm. Translation of Korol dama, valet. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: McGraw-Hill
Date Published: 1969
Description: Very Good. No Jacket. Very Good. No Jacket Very good. No dust jacket. Text in English, Russian. xi, 272 p. 22 cm. Translation of Korol dama, valet. Very minor fading to cloth at the bottom corners. Top and edge block are age toned. Interior of book is clean with no marks or creases. read more
Edition: First edition.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: McGraw-Hill, New York
Date Published: 1968
Description: Very good in very good dust jacket. a few small tears to jacket. no writing or markings. Text in English, Russian. xi, 272 p. 22 cm. Translation of Korol dama, valet. read more
Edition: 1st Fawcett Crest Edition; T1287/75c
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Mcgraw-Hill, New York
Date Published: 1968
Description: Very Good. Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Near fine, clean, solid, tight, excellent shape and attractive with very light crease on spine. 224 p.; 18 cm.; binding in illustrated cover with yellow title. Translation of Korol dama, valet.; Alibris.0004345. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: McGraw-Hill, New York
Date Published: 1968
Description: Fine in fine dust jacket. Ex-library. usual lib. markings, pocket removed, tight clean, appears unused, tight clean, bright cover, very slight upper spine roughness, under mylar. Text in English, Russian. xi, 272 p. 22 cm. Translation of Korol dama, valet. read more
"Vladimir Nabokov (if the universe were just, I would be writing "Nobel Prize-winner Vladimir Nabokov," but the universe is not just) wrote King, Queen, Knave in Russian in 1928, when he was an emigre living in Berlin. His son, Dmitri Nabokov (born after the novel was written) translated it from Russian to English in 1968, with Vladimir Nabokov making several changes to the story itself during the translation process. I read the English version, which is beautifully written.
The book is nominally set in Berlin, but, as Nabokov says in the introduction, it could be set anywhere. As he also says in the introduction, the plot is an ancient plot, familiar to anyone who has read Madame Bovary or Anna Karenina (or as Nabokov pedantically insists, "Anna Karenin," in English).
I hate to write much more about the plot, because a great deal of the enjoyment and delight I derived from reading this book came from NOT KNOWING WHAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN NEXT. I was continually in a state of suspense and was surprised at many turns.
The rest of the enjoyment and delight came from Nabokov's language (damn good even in translation, and especially funny when he recounts some of the characters' clumsy attempts at speaking English) and his writing. His use of interior monologues is so masterful that I even liked the wicked queen, Martha Dreyer. Nabokov'll do that to you: who doesn't like Humbert Humbert, even as we are digusted by him?
The book contains a moral, which is no less applicable to the reader making wishes as she reads as it is to the characters: be careful what you wish for."
"Maybe it's chauvinistic provincialism on my part, but I find Nabokov less interesting when his stories take place in foreign countries. I just didn't find this novel as enjoyable as his later American books. Maybe the humor doesn't travel well, but there were times when this book was a slog to get through."
"Lately, I've asked people who they think are the best wordsmiths in the English language and while some people can answer that question in a heartbeat, others turn into a puddle of contemplation. For me, I've known the answer to that question for about a year and that answer is: Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe and Vladimir Nabokov. In every work I've read by these writers, they continually astound me with their ability to string a shocking sentence together. Every work of theirs seems innovative and full of color; it's like taking a bite into a fresh piece of fruit.
That's why it kind of hurts me to say this: I did not like Vladimir Nabokov's King, Queen, Knave. No, that's too simple of a statement. The beautiful language, unique descriptions, and originality ofKing, Queen, Knave made my head spin with awe, but the story absolutely bored me to tears. However, I think that was Nabokov's point.
Hmmm. Can you see why I find Nabokov such an interesting writer? He writes his narrative in a style that is so complementary to it's purpose. Lolita was a seduction, thus the language was intoxicating and the narrative as silky as flattery; in Invitation to a Beheading, the point of the plot was unclear and so the language and narration was full of hesitancy and hiccups; and The Real Life of Sebastian Knight was about a failure and so the story would wind up with promise and than deflate.
For King, Queen, Knave, the story is a chess game about three people: Dreyer, his wife Martha and his nephew Franz, and like a chess game, this book was not a spectator-sport. In the end, the action was more apparent and interesting to those playing rather than those watching. I plodded through half of the book dying for Martha and Franz to finally start their affair - which they did! And then I plodded through the latter half of the book dying for someone to finally die already - which someone did! But it was just so difficult for me, as the reader, to take an active interest in anything.
Much like a card game, Nabokov slices up his narrative into his character's three perspectives so that Franz, Dreyer and Martha never know what cards the other is holding or what the other is thinking. The reader knows because they are not playing, rather they're circling the table watching the card players play, but again, that's only so much fun for the reader.
There are interesting side tangents, characters, linguistic moments, and etc. and this book still makes me applaud Nabokov for his English mastery (the man writes every book in a way I've never seen before), but, I just didn't care.
For more thrilling Nabokov reads, check out Lolita or Invitation to a Beheading."
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