The reputation of Vladimir Nabokov, in terms of his achievement in establishing himself as a major writer in two literatures, is an extremely rare one in western culture. Joseph Conrad, who may spring to mind as a comparable figure, wrote only in an English which was, in effect, his third language. A closer analogue, in English and French, would be the bilingual Samuel Beckett.
Nabokov is the author of seventeen novels and some sixty-five stories, many of which exist in double versions – Russian-English, or English-Russian: if not originally authored in both languages, then authorised (and definitively polished) by him through collaborative translation (mostly with his son Dmitri). He began writing as a poet in Tsarist …
Citation: Cornwell, Neil. "Vladimir Nabokov". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 March 2002 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=3282, accessed 22 April 2021.]
Articles on Nabokov's Works
- Ada or Ardor: A Family Chronicle
- Bend Sinister
- Dar [The Gift]
- Glory
- Invitation to a Beheading
- Izobretenie Val'sa [The Waltz Invention]
- King, Queen, Knave
- Korol', dama, valet [King, Queen, Knave]
- Lectures on Literature
- Lolita
- Look at the Harlequins!
- Mashen'ka [Mary]
- Otchaianie [Despair]
- Pale Fire
- Pnin
- Podvig [Glory]
- Poseshchenie muzeia [The Visit to the Museum]
- Priglashenie na kazn' [Invitation to a Beheading]
- Sogliadatai [The Eye]
- Speak, Memory: An Autobiography Revisited
- Strong Opinions
- The Man from the USSR and Other Plays
- The Original of Laura (Dying Is Fun)
- The Real Life of Sebastian Knight
- The Vane Sisters
- Transparent Things
- Tyrants Destroyed
- Venetsianka [La Veneziana]
- Volshebnik [The Enchanter]
- Vozvrashchenie Chorba [The Return of Chorb]
- Zashchita Luzhina [Luzhin's Defense / The Defense]