About this title: For two decades, first at Wellesley and then at Cornell, Nabokov introduced undergraduates to the delights of great fiction. Here, collected for the first time, are his famous lectures, which include Mansfield Park, Bleak House, and Ulysses. Edited and with a Foreword by Fredson Bowers; Introduction by John Updike; illustrations.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
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
Description: Very Good in Good jacket. 0151495971 BOOK: sticker on first end page. DJ: 1 inch tear on bottom front cover. Small tesras on top edge. read more
Binding: Cloth
Publisher: Harcourt, Brace Jovanovich, New York
Date Published: 1980
ISBN-13:9780151495979ISBN:0151495971
Description: Good. No Jacket. 4to-over 9¾"-12" tall. Blue cloth binding. The first part of the book and a page or two toward the end have some very neat underlining and margin notes. Name and date printed on the first blank page. There is no dust jacket, however the dustjacket flaps have been cut and taped to the inside front cover. Fading on the spine. Stated First Edition. B printing. read more
Binding: Cloth
Publisher: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York
Date Published: 1981
ISBN-13:9780151495993ISBN:0151495998
Description: Good. No Jacket. 4to-over 9¾"-12" tall. Red cloth binding. A few pages in the first part of the book have some neat underlining and margin notes. Name and date printed on the first blank page. There is no dust jacket, however the dustjacket flaps have been cut and taped onto the inside front cover. Stated First Edition. B printing. read more
Edition: First Paperback Edition
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Harcourt Brace And Company, Orlando, Florida
Date Published: 1982
ISBN-13:9780156495899ISBN:0156495899
Description: Very Good; 1982. First Paperback Edition. Softbound. Book very good, no jacket. No PO marks, 385pp, no index. Covers Austen, Dickens, Flaubert, Joyce, Kafka, Proust, Stevenson. 0156495899. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" Tall. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Harvest Books
Date Published: 2002-12-01
ISBN-13:9780156027755ISBN:0156027755
Description: NEW. Softcover. From an inventory that is 100% brand-new, 100% direct from the publishers' distribution channel. We carry NO pre-owned, NO remaindered. We pack in CARDBOARD to ensure the pristine quality is maintained. (Bubble-wrap alone is NOT sufficient to protect from USPS equipment. ) Guaranteed brand-NEW, protected with CARDBOARD, your satisfaction is guaranteed. BKLUVID: 9780156027755. read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich
Date Published: 1981
ISBN-13:9780151495993ISBN:0151495998
Description: Good. No Jacket. Large hardcover; Good/No dj; cloth-covered boards, somewhat soiled, some soil on outer pp. edges; text block is clean. The text of actual lectures delivered by Nabokov on Gogol, Turgenev, Dostoevski, Tolstoy, Chekhov, and Gorki. read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Harcourt, Orlando, Florida, U.S.A.
Date Published: 1982
ISBN-13:9780156495899ISBN:0156495899
Description: Very Good. No Jacket. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. First edition/third printing book is like new tightness with no markings, light soiling to page edges, wraps have some rubbing along with mild creasing along the edges. read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, NY
Date Published: 1980
ISBN-13:9780151495979ISBN:0151495971
Description: Very Good in Very Good dust jacket. 0151495971. Book: Foxing at edges; Dust Jacket: Two tears, small rubs at edges; Facsimiles; 385 pages. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Picador, [London]
Date Published: 1983
ISBN-13:9780330269735ISBN:0330269739
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Very Good + condition. xxvii, 385p. : ill., facsims., maps, plans; 20 cm. Includes: Illustrations, Maps, Plans, Facsimiles. Originally published: London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1981. read more
Description: Good; Collectible. 1980 Harcourt Brace Jonavitch hard cover First Edition 2nd printing-some wear to dust jacket-slight staining to page edge-otherwise cover fine binding like new contents like new-a very nice collectible. read more
Edition: First In This Edition
Binding: Paper Back
Publisher: Picador, London
Date Published: 1983
ISBN-13:9780330269735ISBN:0330269739
Description: Good. No Jacket. 12mo-over 6¾"-7¾" tall. Spine creased. Top front corner creased. Minor handling wear. Covers discoloured due to light exposure and handling. Pages tanned. Edited by Fredson Bowers, introduced by John Updike. Lectures on: Austen, Dickens, Flaubert, Joyce, Kafka, Proust and Stevenson. 385pp. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Harcourt
Date Published: 1980
ISBN-13:9780151495979ISBN:0151495971
Description: Bowers, Fredson. Very good in good dust jacket. DJ is scuffed and edgeworn, now in protective cover. Interior pages clean, bright, unmarked. Binding tight. Sewn binding. Paper over boards. Audience: General/trade. read more
Edition: First edition.
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Harcourt
Date Published: 1981
ISBN-13:9780151495993ISBN:0151495998
Description: Fine in fine dust jacket. Just a hint of edgewear & sunning to DJ spine. Audience: General/trade. Prof. Nabokov's views on DOSTOEVSKY, TURGENEV, TOLSTOY, GOGOL, CHEKHOV, GORKI. read more
Edition: First Edition
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York, NY, U.S.A.
Date Published: 1980
ISBN-13:9780151495979ISBN:0151495971
Description: Near Fine in Fine jacket. NEAR FINE stated 1st edition (& 1st printing) in a FINE dust jacket (price intact, light sunning to cover edges of book). Quarto volumer (7.75" by 10.25"), 385 pages, illustrated with facsimile pages of manuscript and notes. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, New York
Date Published: 1980
Description: xxvii, [1], 385p, illustrated. 26cm. Later printing. Blue cloth over boards, titling in gilt on the front cover and spine; dust jacket. Very slight fading at edges, minor edge wear to jacket. Bookplate of Eugene Istomin. In fine condition. read more
"Nabokov is a much better reader than writer, probably the best reader of his time with Bloom trailing behind. He makes me really want to read every book he is writing about. His notes on ulysses are really helpful, especially as he recommends totally ignoring the Homeric parallels and skimming the third chapter."
"Some time back, I reviewed "Crime and Punishment" for Amazon. One of the commentators on my review suggested that I take a look at Vladimir Nabokov's critical analysis of Dostoevsky. So, via Amazon, I purchased Vladimir Nabokov's book, "Lectures in Literature." As luck would have it, this was not the volume covering Dostoevsky! The end result? A greater appreciation for Nabokov--and also a sense that I'm not apt to invest a great deal of time reading other of his literary analysis.
The essays in this book represent lectures that he gave at Wellesley College and Cornell University. John Updike's Introduction provides some context for this work. He notes that Nabokov's lectures provide (Page xxv): ". . .a dazzling demonstration, for those lucky Cornell students in the remote, clean-cut fifties, of the irresistible artistic sensibility." He also notes, in Nabokov's words, the truth of novels, that (Pages xxv-xxvi): ". . .great novels are great fairy tales--and the novels in this series are supreme fairy tales. . . ." Nabokov himself points out that a writer can be considered as (a) a storyteller, (b) a teacher, and (c) an enchanter (Page 5). And, above all, he values style and structure in authors' creations.
Maybe a couple examples will illustrate his critical approach. First, Jane Austen's "Mansfield Park." Nabokov is very pleased with her work. Given his emphasis on style and structure, he details how well she constructs this work. For instance, at one point, the characters, among whom there are a variety of tensions to begin with, select a play to perform. The decision as to which of the characters in Austen's story would play which characters in the play is well discussed by Nabokov. The play itself raises questions--it was, in fact, an actual play that scandalized some of the characters in the novel. And it exacerbated pre-existing tensions among the characters. All in all, Nabokov makes a great case that Austen's structure of this segment of the novel was well done indeed. And, in terms of style, he says of Austen that (Page 59) "she handles it with perfection." Nabokov convinced me that Austen was a terrific technical writer, who wed her genius to technique and style and structure to create something special.
Another example. . . . Kafka's "Metamorphosis," a story I read several decades ago. I recall the sense of despair I felt reading about the travails of Gregor Samsa--and a sense that, despite the awful/offal nature of the work that there was something important here. Nabokov is very positive about this piece. Much of this lecture is a simple description of the work, scene by scene, and Nabokov spennds some time noting how Kafka's work is so much better than Stevenson's work discussed above. Samsa's unexplained transformation into a beetle is the event that triggers this story. Nabokov notes how this tragedy has positive elements--a family finally getting its act together even as it abandons Gregor--and illustrates Kafka's style. Of the latter, Nabokov says (Page 283): "You will mark Kafka's style. Its clarity, its precise and formal intonation in such striking contrast to the nightmare matter of his story."
I admire his emphasis on style and structure, but I also think there is an almost sanitary quality about some of his observations. But I'm a political scientist--not a literary critic. Overll, this is an intellectually exciting book, as one learns how a literary critic from one critical perspective examining a series of works--Austen, Dickens, Flaubert, Stevenson, Proust, Kafka, and Joyce. If interested in Nabokov's critical perspective, this is a good starting point!"
"A collection of lectures on some major literature masterpieces. Since I have been recently introduced to, and completely into all things Nabokov, I was drawn to his analysis on literature. Honestly, some good things (naturally) but not anything ground breaking...actually reminded me of some regular expected lecture. I felt his book about Russian literature was much more valuable and interesting to me."
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