Synopses & Reviews
Review
"The first wave of reception of Nabokov's novels emphasized the Barthesian jouissance of his writing and the putatively 'post-modern' character of his plotting. A second wave, of which Toker's book is part, emphasizes the ethical content of his stories. Toker gives extended analyses of the major works (though omitting Pale Fire and Ada), and has useful things to say about them. Her book does not put Nabokov in a fresh light, but it is sensible and helpful." Reviewed by Daniel Weiss, Virginia Quarterly Review (Copyright 2006 Virginia Quarterly Review)
Synopsis
Vladimir Nabokov described the literature course he taught at Cornell as "a kind of detective investigation of the mystery of literary structures." Leona Toker here pursues a similar investigation of the enigmatic structures of Nabokov's own fiction. According to Toker, most previous critics stressed either Nabokov's concern with form or the humanistic side of his works, but rarely if ever the two together. In sensitive and revealing readings of ten novels, Toker demonstrates that the need to reconcile the human element with aesthetic or metaphysical pursuits is a constant theme of Nabokov's and that the tension between technique and content is itself a key to his fiction. Written with verve and precision, Toker's book begins with Pnin and follows the circular pattern that is one of her subject's own favored devices.