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Title	:	Despair
Author	:	Vladimir Nabokov
Book Format	:	Paperback
Book Edition	:	Special Edition
Pages	:	Pages: 212 pages
Published	:	May 14th 1989 by Vintage (first published 1934)
Categories	:	Fiction. Classics. Cultural. Russia. Literature. Russian Literature

Despair

Vladimir Nabokov

Paperback | Pages: 212 pages

Rating: 3.92 | 7384 Users | 474 Reviews

Relation Conducive To Books Despair

Intensely good writing, with the unique Nabokovian feature of phrases we've never heard before somehow moving propulsively. Unfortunately, after a promising start, the plot turns flimsy, with the "twist" at the end telegraphed far too often to be anything other than a disappointment. This is an iceberg novel, but what's beneath the surface (the book jacket copy) is likely more interesting than the ramblings of our lead, Hermann, who (in the Zweigian conceit of the novel) has written and sent the prose to Nabokov for publication.

Nabokov has an interesting line in the introduction (coming some 30 years after he wrote DESPAIR in Russian): "Hermann and Humbert are alike only in the sense that two dragons painted by the same artist at different periods of his life resemble each other. Both are neurotic scoundrels, yet there is a green lane in Paradise where Humbert is permitted to wander at dusk once a year; but Hell shall never parole Hermann."

This seems odd - though both are unreliable narrators who commit a vile crime, the insidiousness of Humbert is far more extreme, and not just because LOLITA is a superior novel. Humbert's charm makes him disturbing, while Hermann is so unlikable that we can never be immersed in his mind. Though he is fully in control of the narrative, he is mainly a source of derision.

Now, there is much pleasure here in what the reader knows and the narrator doesn't - the relationship between Ardalion and Hermann's wife is a brilliant piece of writing, with lots of great humor coming out of Hermann's not knowing what is so obviously happening. This book also has the strangest supporting character I can remember, a man named Orlovious who is somehow instrumental to the plot, in a large percentage of the book's scenes, and never once explained or described. I enjoyed the many digs at Dostoyevsky too ("Dusty") - the whole thing can be read as a Dostoyevsky parody, now that I think about it. But despite the evident strengths, this is a minor book by a major writer -3.7 stars.

Present Books To Despair

Original Title:	Отчаяние [Otchayanie]
ISBN:	0679723439 (ISBN13: 9780679723431)
Edition Language:	English
Characters:	Hermann Karlovich, Lydia Karlovich
Setting:	Berlin(Germany) Prague (Praha)(Czech Republic)

Rating Of Books Despair

Ratings: 3.92 From 7384 Users | 474 Reviews

Evaluate Of Books Despair

Nobody writes like Nabokov. Nobody can ape his style, or fake his psychological acuity, both of which are on pyrotechnic display here. Taking us on a winding journey through self-aggrandizing memories and fantasies, Nabokov's pompous and foppish narrator carefully and gradually, but also gleefully and proudly, reveals his plot to fake his own death by killing his double. Though ostensibly the motive is to gain the insurance money, Hermann, the narrator, has deeper and more chilling motives. An

Don't play with yourself.

Doubles. Doppelgangers. Duplicity. Distortion. A Demented disposition. Deviation. Deflections. Disguise. Disorder. Design. Deception. Deftness. Dynamic descriptions. And Art. Thats Despair. That pretty much covers the novel proper. It starts as such a wonderful meta-fiction whose author is a real nutter with the absolute least sense of self ever (ironically, he, of course, feels that he is totally self-aware with a complete understanding of not only his identity, but of others). Despite that,



Intensely good writing, with the unique Nabokovian feature of phrases we've never heard before somehow moving propulsively. Unfortunately, after a promising start, the plot turns flimsy, with the "twist" at the end telegraphed far too often to be anything other than a disappointment. This is an iceberg novel, but what's beneath the surface (the book jacket copy) is likely more interesting than the ramblings of our lead, Hermann, who (in the Zweigian conceit of the novel) has written and sent the

Intensely good writing, with the unique Nabokovian feature of phrases we've never heard before somehow moving propulsively. Unfortunately, after a promising start, the plot turns flimsy, with the "twist" at the end telegraphed far too often to be anything other than a disappointment. This is an iceberg novel, but what's beneath the surface (the book jacket copy) is likely more interesting than the ramblings of our lead, Hermann, who (in the Zweigian conceit of the novel) has written and sent the

Yet another classic example of an unreliable narrator, Nabokov's brilliant novel, Despair, revolves around a megalomanic who plots his own murder. The prose contained within are exceptional, unlike any I have ever read, with a styling so unique that Nabokov is able to lead his audience into the depths of the depraved mind with ease. Indeed, the content of and foreword to Despair make clear that Nabokov has a love and command of language that is unmatched. That the English version I read was