About this title: Nabokov's first novel written in America was inspired by his vision of the madness of totalitarianism, which he called "idiotic and despicable." Adam Krug, an internationally celebrated professor of philosophy, is asked by an old schoolmate, now a power-mad dictator, to lend his support to his brutal regime. Krug refuses. His friends are imprisoned, and his son is sent to the Institute for Abnormal Children where he is experimented upon. Krug finally cracks, goes crazy, is shot attempting to attack the dictator--and is transformed into a moth. Nabokov said of the novel in 1946: "I propose to ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Vintage Books
Date Published: 1990-04
ISBN-13:9780070457102ISBN:0070457107
Description: Good. Fast Shipping! This book is Good Condition. Spine has some wear. No writing or highlighting inside book. No missing pages. Some wear on edges and on cover. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Time inc., New York
Date Published: 1964
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Cover Torn Inside Pages Clean Binding Tight Appears Unread. xviii, 217 p.; 21 cm. Cover design: Louis Di Valentin. read more
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Time-Life Books, New York
Date Published: 1974
Description: Good. A NICE edition, USEFUL! Just a small bit of foxing to the page edge some dusty scuff to the page edge as well. Slightest yellowing of the pages. Light scuff to the paperback cover and the page edge, this book is in PRESENTABLE condition. read more
Binding: Stiff Wraps
Publisher: Time Inc., NY
Date Published: 1964
Description: Fair. No Jacket. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. Cover is bumped. Top & bottom corners are broke off and missing. Pgs. are clean & tight. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies
Date Published: 1974
ISBN-13:9780070457102ISBN:0070457107
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. VG, shows just a bit of age-wear, nice clean and tight copy. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 256 p. McGraw-Hill Paperbacks. read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Time Incorporated, New York, New York, USA
Date Published: 1964
Description: Very Good- 5.25"x8" BX6-A trade paperback book in very good-condition. A tight, clean, sound copy in color wraps with very minor overall shelf wear plus there is a very light bump on the bottom right corner. The first novel Nabokov wrote while living in America and originally published in 1947. It is an overtly political novel about a civilized man caught in the tyranny of a police state. With a new introduction by the author. By the author of "Transparent Things, " "Lolita, " "Despair, " and ... read more
Edition: Later Printing
Binding: Softcover
Publisher: Time Incorporated
Date Published: 1964
Description: Good/No Jacket. This paperback has a very heavy cover. One corner of front wrap ahs been cut off. 217 pages. Very nice condition. No alien writing inside. read more
Binding: S Trade Paperback
Publisher: Time Inc., Alexandria, VA
Date Published: 1981
ISBN-13:9780679727279ISBN:0679727272
Description: Good. Note-earlier Time Reading Program edition. This book bears some light shelf wear and faint toning to the edges of its text block. There's a minor water stain to one corner, a dog eared page and the first 20 pages have a few marginalia and underlining to the text, but the book appears likely unread past that point. It's tight, square, solid, and has an uncreased spine and a clean, still lustrous cover--you'll cartwheel joyfully when this book gets to you! ! ! read more
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Time Incorporated, N Y
Date Published: 1964
Description: Very Good- No Jacket. 8vo. 217pp. Has light wear. Covers lightly rubbed and soiled. Internally Clean. Lang: English. Vols: 1, Wt: 1lbs. read more
"this and lolita i have read and re-read. i hesitate to say "cinematic" as that word is used to describe too many things, and means nothing anymore, and besides, vlad probably wouldn't agree; but maybe theatrical in the sense that this story feels like it plays out in a small black box. the ceilings too low, the walls framing both sides of every scene, and a hyper-reality like the trollies are miniature and pulled on strings through the miniature sets. and then the legs cut out from under you (as so often they do in russian literature), and suddenly theater dissolves into reality, the characters wake up, baron von munchausen gets old, you hit your head on the ceiling, and everything suddenly has a smell and you're not sure why you didn't notice before."
"Paduk is an anagram for the Russian word "dupak" which when read in Cyrillic is pronounced "durak" and means "fool." Bend Sinister is chock full of stuff like this and makes for a fun read even if I probably only caught about 25% of Nabokov's word manipulations."
"I love this man's command of English... of the written word (there are segments in something slavic though I can't tell if he was making them up or if they're transliterated Russian) really.
The plot is completely bleak...but it's unimportant to the telling, the craft, the music of the words as they fall together on a page. This would be so fun to read aloud, to taste each phrase as the puns make you smile, to discover which voice to use in characterizing the actors, the author, the participants...I have an edition with an introduction by the author who complains that editors just don't listen...one going so far as to change the last word ("mothing") into something...inane instead.
Who needs to kipple when V. Nabokov can sing in your mind's ear?"
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