The acclaimed author presents his unique insights into the works of great Russian authors including Tolstoy, Dostoevski, Gogol, Gorki, and Chekhov.
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In the 1940s, when Vladimir Nabokov first embarked on his academic career in the United States, he brought with him hundreds of original lectures on the authors he most admired. For two decades those lectures served as the basis for Nabokovβs teaching, first at Wellesley and then at Cornell, as he introduced undergraduates to the delights of great fiction.
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This volume collects Nabokovβs famous lectures on 19th century Russian literature, with analysis and commentary on Nikolay Gogolβs Dead Souls and βThe Overcoatβ; Ivan Turgenevβs Fathers and Sons; Maxim Gorkiβs βOn the Raftsβ; Leo Tolstoyβs Anna Karenina and The Death of Ivan Ilych; two short stories and a play by Anton Chekhov; and several works by Fyodor Dostoevski, including Crime and Punishment, The Idiot, and The Possessed.
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This volume also includes Nabokovβs lectures on the art of translation, the nature of Russian censorship, and other topics. Featured throughout the volume are photographic reproductions of Nabokovβs original notes.
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βThis volumeΒ .Β .Β . never once fails to instruct and stimulate. This is a great Russian talking of great Russians.β βAnthony Burgess
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Introduction by Fredson Bowers