Poems and Problems is a book by Vladimir Nabokov

Vladimir Nabokov

Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov was a multilingual Russian novelist and short story writer. Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Russian, then rose to international prominence as a master English prose stylist...

 published in 1969. It consists of:

• 39 poems
  Poetry
  Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning...
  
   originally written in Russian
  Russian language
  Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
  
   and translated by Nabokov
• 14 poems written in English
  English language
  English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
  
  
• 18 chess problem
  Chess problem
  A chess problem, also called a chess composition, is a puzzle set by somebody using chess pieces on a chess board, that presents the solver with a particular task to be achieved. For instance, a position might be given with the instruction that White is to move first, and checkmate Black in two...
  
  s

One of the 39 poems originally written in Russian, "Lilith", in 1928, can be looked at as a foreshadowing of Lolita

Lolita

Lolita 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...

. However, in the author's notes, Nabokov states that, "Intelligent readers will abstain from examining this impersonal fantasy for any links with my later fiction," and that the poem was written "...to amuse a friend."

Table of content

• THIRTY-NINE RUSSIAN POEMS

  	English	Russian
  1.	The Rain Has Flown	Дождь пролетел
  2.	To Liberty	К Cвободе
  3.	I Still keep Mute	Еще безмолвствую и крепну я в тиши
  4.	Hotel Room	Номер в гостинице
  5.	Provence	Солнце
  6.	La Bonne Lorraine
  7.	The Blazon	Герб
  8.	The Mother	Мать
  9.	I Like That Mountain	Люблю я гору
  10.	The dream	Сновидение
  11.	The Snapshot	Снимок
  12.	In Paradise	В раю
  13.	The Execution	Расстрел
  14.	For Happiness the Lovers Cannot Sleep	От счастия влюбленному не спится
  15.	Lilith	Лилит
  16.	The Muse	К музе
  17.	Soft Sound	Тихий шум
  18.	Snow	Снег
  19.	The Formula	Формула
  20.	An Unfinished Draft	Неоконченный черновик
  21.	Evening on Vacant Lot	Вечер на пустыре
  22.	The Madman	Безумец
  23.	How I Love You	Как я люблю тебя
  24.	L'Inconnue de la Seine
  25.	At Sunset	На закате
  26.	We So Firmly Beheved	Мы с тобой так верили
  27.	What Happened Overnight	Что за ночь с памятью случилось
  28.	The Poets	Поэты
  29.	To Russia	к Росии
  30.	Oculus	Око
  31.	Fame	Слава
  32.	The Paris Poem	Парижская поэма
  33.	No Matter How	Каким бы полотном батальным
  34.	On Rulers	О правителях
  35.	To Prince S.M. Kachurin	К князю С.М. Качурину
  36.	A Day like Any Other	Был день как день
  37.	Irregular Iambics	Неправильные ямбы
  38.	What Is the Evil Deed	Какое сделал я дурное дело
  39.	From the Gray North	С серого Севера

• FOURTEEN ENGLISH POEMS

  	English
  1	A Literary Dinner
  2	The Refrigeration Awakes
  3	A Discovery
  4	The Poem
  5	An Evening of Russian Poetry
  6	The Room
  7	Voluptates tactionum
  8	Restoration
  9	The Poplar
  10	Lines Written in Oregon
  11	Ode to a Model
  12	On translation Eugene Onegin
  13	Rain
  14	The Ballad of Longwood Glen

Quote

• "Chess problems demand from the composer the same virtues that characterize all worthwhile art: originality, invention, conciseness, harmony, complexity, and splendid insincerity."

External links

• "Nabokov Under Glass" (New York Public Library)
• 18 chess problems from "Poems and Problems"