HON-H 303 Nabokov

This course provides an overview of Vladimir Nabokov’s work in both Russian and English. The focus is on his prose fictions, but we will also consider Nabokov as a poet, playwright, critic, translator, and puzzle constructor. In exploring Nabokov’s works, we will also explore the themes that make him a central figure of twentieth century literature, including: the poetics of exile and nostalgia; translation and transnational culture; literary trickery and deceit; paranoia as a tactic of reading; the relationship between the aesthetic and the sadistic; and art as an image of a higher reality. All readings available in English.