This book has left me with a lingering melancholy. With its shifting perspectives and unreliable narrator, combined with that narrator's masterful prose, I could not help but fall in love with PNIN. It is art, dense, complex, playful, as only Nabokov can deliver.
Although this is a less known novel of Nabokov, it is, in my opinion, just as great as LOLITA and PALE FIRE: although, it is a different type of greatness. Whereas PALE FIRE is a Rubin vase of absolute innovation, and LOLITA is masterfully allusive and erudite, PNIN is hilariously funny and pathetic. Pnin, the protagonist of PNIN, an emigre Russian living in the United States, is a likable, painfully oblivious professor at a college, where all of his coevals think him a hack. A veritable Don Quixote, the universe seems to conspire against Pnin, and everything he does ends in disaster-- such as try to take a train, or walk down some stairs, or wash some dishes. The sadness of the book comes from the fact that, like Don Quixote, Pnin is beautiful and pure and innocent in a uniquely "Pninian" way, which is not only admirable but lovable.
If one enjoyed LOLITA, then this book is a must. It was written at the same time as LOLITA, while Nabokov wrote at his most "American." Yet, clearly, it is very different than LOLITA. In comparing LOLITA to PNIN, one can see the skill of Nabokov. As PNIN is much more approachable than LOLITA, it should be a relatively easy task to read.
I do note, with a tinge of sadness, that the Kindle edition of this book has a few errors. For instance, on Kindle page 114, it reads, "...church at which one was supposed to turn left to reach Cooks Place." when it should read, as it does in my physical copy of PNIN, "...church at which one was supposed to turn left to reach Cook's Place" (114, First Vintage International Edition, June 1989). I found other solecisms within the Kindle text, which not detracting from the book on a serious level, were nonetheless unfortunate as they mar a great work.
I will read this book again and again, especially as the Kindle edition makes looking up the arcane and obscure words Nabokov revels in simple. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys literature.
Although this is a less known novel of Nabokov, it is, in my opinion, just as great as LOLITA and PALE FIRE: although, it is a different type of greatness. Whereas PALE FIRE is a Rubin vase of absolute innovation, and LOLITA is masterfully allusive and erudite, PNIN is hilariously funny and pathetic. Pnin, the protagonist of PNIN, an emigre Russian living in the United States, is a likable, painfully oblivious professor at a college, where all of his coevals think him a hack. A veritable Don Quixote, the universe seems to conspire against Pnin, and everything he does ends in disaster-- such as try to take a train, or walk down some stairs, or wash some dishes. The sadness of the book comes from the fact that, like Don Quixote, Pnin is beautiful and pure and innocent in a uniquely "Pninian" way, which is not only admirable but lovable.
If one enjoyed LOLITA, then this book is a must. It was written at the same time as LOLITA, while Nabokov wrote at his most "American." Yet, clearly, it is very different than LOLITA. In comparing LOLITA to PNIN, one can see the skill of Nabokov. As PNIN is much more approachable than LOLITA, it should be a relatively easy task to read.
I do note, with a tinge of sadness, that the Kindle edition of this book has a few errors. For instance, on Kindle page 114, it reads, "...church at which one was supposed to turn left to reach Cooks Place." when it should read, as it does in my physical copy of PNIN, "...church at which one was supposed to turn left to reach Cook's Place" (114, First Vintage International Edition, June 1989). I found other solecisms within the Kindle text, which not detracting from the book on a serious level, were nonetheless unfortunate as they mar a great work.
I will read this book again and again, especially as the Kindle edition makes looking up the arcane and obscure words Nabokov revels in simple. I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys literature.
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