List of works by Vladimir Nabokov
Encyclopedia
Novels and novellas
Novels and novellas written in Russian
- (1926) Mashen'ka (Машенька); English translation: Mary (1970)
- (1928) Korol' Dama Valet (Король, дама, валет); English translation: King, Queen, KnaveKing, Queen, KnaveKing, Queen, Knave is a novel written by Vladimir Nabokov , while living in Berlin and sojourning at resorts in the Baltic in 1928...
(1968) - (1930) Zashchita Luzhina (Защита Лужина); English translation: The Luzhin Defense or The DefenseThe DefenseThe Defense is a Russian novel written by Vladimir Nabokov during his emigration in Berlin and published in 1930.-Plot summary:The plot concerns the title character, Aleksandr Ivanovich Luzhin. As a boy, he is considered unattractive, withdrawn, and an object of ridicule by his classmates...
(1964) (also adapted to film, The Luzhin DefenceThe Luzhin DefenceThe Luzhin Defence is a 2000 film directed by Marleen Gorris, starring John Turturro and Emily Watson. The film centres on a mentally tormented chess grandmaster and the young woman he meets while competing at a world-class tournament in Italy...
, in 2000) - (1930) The Eye (Соглядатай (The Eye)), novella; first publication as a book 1938; English translation: The Eye (1965)
- (1932) Podvig (Подвиг (Deed)); English translation: GloryGlory (novel)Glory is a Russian novel written by Vladimir Nabokov between 1930 and 1932 and first published in Paris.The novel has been seen by some critics as a kind fictional dress-run-through of the author's famous memoir Speak, Memory...
(1971) - (1933) Kamera Obskura (Камера Обскура); English translations: Camera Obscura (1936), Laughter in the Dark (1938)
- (1934) Otchayanie (Отчаяние); English translation: DespairDespair (novel)Despair was written by Vladimir Nabokov and originally published as a serial in Sovremennye Zapiski during 1934. It was then published as a book in 1936 and later translated to English by the author in 1937. Most copies of the 1937 English translation of the book were destroyed by German bombs,...
(1937, 1965) - (1936) Priglasheniye na kazn (Приглашение на казнь (Invitation to an execution)); English translation: Invitation to a BeheadingInvitation to a BeheadingInvitation to a Beheading is a novel by Russian American author Vladimir Nabokov. It was originally published in Russian in 1935-1936 as a serial in Contemporary Notes , a highly respected Russian émigré magazine...
(1959) - (1938) Dar (Дар); English translation: The Gift (1963)
- (Unpublished novella, written in 1939) Volshebnik (Волшебник); English translation: The EnchanterThe EnchanterThe Enchanter is a novella written by Vladimir Nabokov in Paris in 1939. As Волшебник it was his last work of fiction written in Russian. Nabokov never published it during his lifetime. After his death, his son Dmitri translated the novella into English in 1986 and it was published the following...
(1985)
Novels written in English
- (1941) The Real Life of Sebastian KnightThe Real Life of Sebastian KnightThe Real Life of Sebastian Knight is the first English novel by Vladimir Nabokov, written from late 1938 to early 1939, and published in 1941 by New Directions Publishers.-Composition:...
- (1947) Bend Sinister
- (1955) LolitaLolitaLolita is a novel by Vladimir Nabokov, first written in English and published in 1955 in Paris and 1958 in New York, and later translated by the author into Russian...
, self-translated into Russian, (1965) - (1957) PninPninPnin is Vladimir Nabokov's 13th novel and his fourth written in English; it was published in 1957.-Plot summary:The book's eponymous protagonist, Timofey Pavlovich Pnin, is a Russian-born professor living in the United States...
- (1962) Pale FirePale FirePale Fire is a novel by Vladimir Nabokov. The novel is presented as a 999-line poem titled "Pale Fire", written by the fictional John Shade, with a foreword and lengthy commentary by a neighbor and academic colleague of the poet. Together these elements form a narrative in which both authors are...
- (1969) Ada or Ardor: A Family ChronicleAda or Ardor: A Family ChronicleAda or Ardor: A Family Chronicle is a novel by Vladimir Nabokov published in 1969.Ada began to materialize in 1959, when Nabokov was flirting with two projects: "The Texture of Time" and "Letters from Terra." In 1965, he began to see a link between the two ideas, finally composing a unified novel...
- (1972) Transparent ThingsTransparent Things (novel)Transparent Things is a novel by Vladimir Nabokov published in 1972. It was originally written in English.-Plot summary:This short novel tells the story of Hugh Person, a young American editor, and the memory of his four trips to a small village in Switzerland over the course of nearly two decades....
- (1974) Look at the Harlequins!Look at the Harlequins!Look at the Harlequins! is a novel written by Vladimir Nabokov, first published in 1974. The work was Nabokov's final published novel before his death in 1977.-Plot summary:...
- (2009) The Original of LauraThe Original of LauraThe Original of Laura is the incomplete final novel by Vladimir Nabokov, which he was writing at the time of his death in 1977. It was finally published, after 30 years of private debate, on November 17, 2009. Nabokov had requested that the work be destroyed upon his death, but his family hesitated...
(Fragmentary, written during mid-1970s and published posthumously)
Short story collections
- (1930) Vozvrashchenie Chorba ("The Return of Chorb"). Fifteen short stories and twenty-four poems, in Russian, by "V. Sirin".
- (1938) Sogliadatai ("The Eye"). Thirteen short stories, in Russian, by "V. Sirin".
- (1947) Nine StoriesNine Stories (Nabokov)Nine Stories is an English-language collection of stories written in Russian, French, and English by Vladimir Nabokov. It was published in 1947 by New Directions in New York City, as the second issue of a serial, Direction.The nine stories are:...
- (1956) Vesna v Fial'te i drugie rasskazy ("Spring in Fialta and other stories")
- (1958) Nabokov's Dozen: A Collection of Thirteen StoriesNabokov's DozenNabokov's Dozen a collection of 13 short stories by Vladimir Nabokov previously published in American magazines. All were later reprinted within The Stories of Vladimir Nabokov....
(Also reprinted as Spring in Fialta and First Love and Other Stories.) - (1966) Nabokov's QuartetNabokov's QuartetNabokov's Quartet is a collection of four of Vladimir Nabokov's short stories. The collection was first published by Phaedra, New York in 1966. It contains the following short stories:* "An Affair of Honor"* "Lik"* "The Vane Sisters"...
- (1968) Nabokov's CongeriesNabokov's CongeriesNabokov's Congeries was a collection of work by Vladimir Nabokov published in 1968 and reprinted in 1971 as The Portable Nabokov. Because Nabokov supervised its production less than a decade before he died, it is useful in attempting to identify which works Nabokov considered to be his best,...
; reprinted as The Portable Nabokov (1971) - (1973) A Russian Beauty and Other StoriesA Russian Beauty and Other StoriesA Russian Beauty and Other Stories is a collection of thirteen short stories by Vladimir Nabokov. All were written in Russian by Nabokov between 1923 and 1940 as an expatriate in Berlin, Paris, and other places in western Europe. They appeared individually in the Russian émigré press...
- (1975) Tyrants Destroyed and Other StoriesTyrants Destroyed and Other StoriesTyrants Destroyed and Other Stories is a collection of thirteen short stories by Vladimir Nabokov. All but the last one were written in Russian by Nabokov between 1924 and 1939 as an expatriate in Berlin, Paris, and Menton, and later translated into English by him and his son, Dmitri Nabokov. These...
- (1976) Details of a Sunset and Other StoriesDetails of a Sunset and Other StoriesDetails of a Sunset and Other Stories is a collection of thirteen short stories by Vladimir Nabokov. All were written in Russian by Nabokov between 1924 and 1935 as an expatriate in Berlin, Paris, and Riga and published individually in the emigre press at that time later to be translated into...
- (1995) The Stories of Vladimir NabokovThe Stories of Vladimir NabokovThe Stories of Vladimir Nabokov is a posthumous collection of every known short story that Vladimir Nabokov ever wrote, with the exception of "The Enchanter"...
(alternative title The Collected Stories) -- complete collection of all short stories
Uncollected short stories
- (1948) "Colette". The New Yorker, July 31, 1948
- (2005) "The Word". The New Yorker, December 6, 2005
- (2008) "Natasha". The New Yorker, June 9 & 16, 2008
Drama
- (1938) Izobretenie Val'sa (The Waltz InventionThe Waltz InventionThe Waltz Invention is a tragicomedy in three acts written by Vladimir Nabokov in Russian as Izobretenie Val'sa in 1938. It was first published in Russkie Zapiski in Paris in the same year. Nabokov translated it at that time into English for the first time...
); English translation The Waltz Invention: A Play in Three Acts (1966) - (1974) Lolita: A Screenplay (Despite the credits given in the earlier film version, this was not used.)
- (1984) The Man from the USSR and Other Plays
Poetry
- (1916) Stikhi ("Poems"). Sixty-eight poems in Russian.
- (1918) Al'manakh: Dva Puti (An Almanac: Two Paths"). Twelve poems by Nabokov and eight by Andrei Balashov, in Russian.
- (1922) Grozd ("The Cluster"). Thirty-six poems in Russian, by "V. Sirin".
- (1923) Gornii Put ("The Empyrean Path"). One hundred and twenty-eight poems in Russian, by "Vl. Sirin".
- (1929) Vozvrashchenie Chorba ("The Return of Chorb"). Fifteen short stories and twenty-four poems, in Russian, by "V. Sirin".
- (1952) Stikhotvoreniia 1929–1951 ("Poems 1929–1951") Fifteen poems in Russian.
- (1959) Poems. The contents were later incorporated within Poems and Problems.
- (1969) Poems and ProblemsPoems and ProblemsPoems and Problems is a book by Vladimir Nabokov published in 1969. It consists of:* 39 poems originally written in Russian and translated by Nabokov* 14 poems written in English* 18 chess problems...
(a collection of poetry and chess problems) ISBN 0-07-045724-7 - (1979) Stikhi ("Poems"). Two hundred and twenty-two poems in Russian.
From French into Russian
- (1922) Nikolka Persik Translation of Romain RollandRomain RollandRomain Rolland was a French dramatist, novelist, essayist, art historian and mystic who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1915.-Biography:...
's novel Colas Breugnon.
From English into Russian
- (1923) Alice's Adventures in WonderlandAlice's Adventures in WonderlandAlice's Adventures in Wonderland is an 1865 novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world populated by peculiar, anthropomorphic creatures...
(as Аня в стране чудес - Anya in Wonderland)
From Russian into English
- (1945) Three Russian Poets: Selections from Pushkin, Lermontov, and Tyutchev. Expanded British edition: Pushkin, Lermontov, Tyutchev: Poems (1947)
- (1958) A Hero of Our TimeA Hero of Our TimeA Hero of Our Time is a novel by Mikhail Lermontov, written in 1839 and revised in 1841. It is an example of the superfluous man novel, noted for its compelling Byronic hero Pechorin and for the beautiful descriptions of the Caucasus...
, by Mikhail LermontovMikhail LermontovMikhail Yuryevich Lermontov , a Russian Romantic writer, poet and painter, sometimes called "the poet of the Caucasus", became the most important Russian poet after Alexander Pushkin's death in 1837. Lermontov is considered the supreme poet of Russian literature alongside Pushkin and the greatest...
. (Collaboration with his son Dmitri.) - (1960) The Song of Igor's Campaign: An Epic of the Twelfth Century
- (1964) Eugene OneginEugene OneginEugene Onegin is a novel in verse written by Alexander Pushkin.It is a classic of Russian literature, and its eponymous protagonist has served as the model for a number of Russian literary heroes . It was published in serial form between 1825 and 1832...
, by Aleksandr PushkinAleksandr PushkinAlexander Sergeyevich Pushkin was a Russian author of the Romantic era who is considered by many to be the greatest Russian poet and the founder of modern Russian literature....
, in prose. Includes "Notes on Prosody". Revised edition (1975). - (2008) Verses and Versions (edited by Brian BoydBrian BoydBrian Boyd is known primarily as an expert on the life and works of author Vladimir Nabokov and on literature and evolution...
and Stanislav Shvabrin), includes materials previously published in Three Russian Poets (1945) and Pushkin, Lermontov, Tyutchev (1947) as well as unpublished materials.
Criticism
- (1944) Nikolai GogolNikolai GogolNikolai Vasilievich Gogol was a Ukrainian-born Russian dramatist and novelist.Considered by his contemporaries one of the preeminent figures of the natural school of Russian literary realism, later critics have found in Gogol's work a fundamentally romantic sensibility, with strains of Surrealism...
- (1963) Notes on Prosody (Later appeared within Eugene Onegin.)
- (1980) Lectures on Literature
- (1980) Lectures on UlyssesUlysses (novel)Ulysses is a novel by the Irish author James Joyce. It was first serialised in parts in the American journal The Little Review from March 1918 to December 1920, and then published in its entirety by Sylvia Beach on 2 February 1922, in Paris. One of the most important works of Modernist literature,...
. Facsimiles of Nabokov's notes. - (1981) Lectures on Russian Literature
- (1983) Lectures on Don Quixote
Autobiographical and other
- (1949) "Curtain-Raiser". The New YorkerThe New YorkerThe New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
24/45 (1 January 1949): 18-21. - (1951) Conclusive Evidence: A Memoir - first version of Nabokov's autobiography. (British edition titled Speak, MemorySpeak, MemorySpeak, Memory is an autobiographical memoir by writer Vladimir Nabokov.-Scope:The book is dedicated to his wife, Véra, and covers his life from 1903 until his emigration to America in 1940. The first twelve chapters describe Nabokov's remembrance of his youth in an aristocratic family living in...
: A Memoir) - (1954) Drugie Berega (Другие берега, "Other Shores") - revised version of the autobiography
- (1967) Speak, Memory: An Autobiography RevisitedSpeak, MemorySpeak, Memory is an autobiographical memoir by writer Vladimir Nabokov.-Scope:The book is dedicated to his wife, Véra, and covers his life from 1903 until his emigration to America in 1940. The first twelve chapters describe Nabokov's remembrance of his youth in an aristocratic family living in...
- final revised and extended edition of Conclusive Evidence. It includes information on his work as a lepidopterist. - (1973) Strong Opinions. Interviews, reviews, letters to editors.
- (1979) The Nabokov–Wilson Letters Letters between Nabokov and Edmund WilsonEdmund WilsonEdmund Wilson was an American writer and literary and social critic and noted man of letters.-Early life:Wilson was born in Red Bank, New Jersey. His father, Edmund Wilson, Sr., was a lawyer and served as New Jersey Attorney General. Wilson attended The Hill School, a college preparatory...
- (1984) Perepiska s Sestroi (Переписка с Сестрой (Correspondence with the Sister)) Correspondence between Nabokov and Helene Sikorski; also includes some letters to his brother Kirill
- (1987) Carrousel. Three long-forgotten short texts that had recently been rediscovered.
- (1989) Selected Letters
- (2001) Dear Bunny, Dear Volodya: The Nabokov–Wilson Letters, 1940–1971. A revised and augmented edition of The Nabokov–Wilson Letters.
Lepidopteral
- (2000) Nabokov's ButterfliesNabokov's ButterfliesNabokov’s Butterflies is a book edited and annotated by Brian Boyd and Robert Michael Pyle that examines and presents Vladimir Nabokov’s passion for butterflies in his literary presentation....
, collected works on butterflies. ISBN 0-8070-8540-5
Collected Works
- Boyd, Brian, ed. Vladimir Nabokov, Novels and Memoirs 1943-1951 (Library of AmericaLibrary of AmericaThe Library of America is a nonprofit publisher of classic American literature.- Overview and history :Founded in 1979 with seed money from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Ford Foundation, the LoA has published over 200 volumes by a wide range of authors from Mark Twain to Philip...
, 1996) ISBN 978-1-883011-18-5 - Boyd, Brian, ed. Vladimir Nabokov, Novels 1955-1962 (Library of AmericaLibrary of AmericaThe Library of America is a nonprofit publisher of classic American literature.- Overview and history :Founded in 1979 with seed money from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Ford Foundation, the LoA has published over 200 volumes by a wide range of authors from Mark Twain to Philip...
, 1996) ISBN 978-1-883011-19-2 - Boyd, Brian, ed. Vladimir Nabokov, Novels 1969-1974 (Library of AmericaLibrary of AmericaThe Library of America is a nonprofit publisher of classic American literature.- Overview and history :Founded in 1979 with seed money from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Ford Foundation, the LoA has published over 200 volumes by a wide range of authors from Mark Twain to Philip...
, 1996) ISBN 978-1-883011-20-8