Fans of Nabokov’s work compiled a list of his reviews of various writers on the basis of the collection “Strong Opinion.” He spoke of some with great enthusiasm, some felt indifference and even disgust. Lifkhaker chose from this list books that severely hooked Nabokov – both in good and bad terms.
10 books that Nabokov liked
1. “Molloy”, Samuel Beckett
His favorite works of Beckett Nabokov at various times called novels “Molloy”, “Malone dies” and “Unspeakable.” The writer himself received a very dubious compliment: Nabokov called Beckett “the author of charming novels and useless plays.”
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2. “Petersburg”, Andrei Bely
Nabokov valued Bely for his “outstanding imagination.” And his main work called the third most significant novel of the entire XX century.
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3. “Suburban husband”, John Cheever
Cheever wrote stories about the middle class of Americans, through which he showed the way of life of the whole country, and earned Nabokov praise for “convincing consistency.” He considered Chevera one of the “most beloved” writers.
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4. “Ulysses”, James Joyce
Joyce is Nabokov’s favorite writer at the age of 20 to 40 years. I considered him a real genius. When someone compared his expressive means with the Joysov, Nabokov always modestly admitted that his English, in comparison with the champion game of Joyce, is a children’s game: “Ulysses is a divine work of art. The greatest masterpiece of prose of the XX century. Rises above all other works of Joyce. Outstanding originality, unique clarity of thought and style. “
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5. “Transformation”, Franz Kafka
In the personal rating of Nabokov, this surrealistic philosophical story takes an honorable second place among the great masterpieces of the 20th century.
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6. Anna Karenina, Leo Tolstoy
Nabokov called Tolstoy a genius, although he noticed that no one was serious about his active moralism. He praised Anna Karenina for her “incomparable prosaic artistry” and considered it to be the main masterpiece of the 19th century. Also among the works of Tolstoy he singled out “The Death of Ivan Ilyich.” But “War and Peace”, on the contrary, did not like and considered an overly long work written for the youth for educational purposes.
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7. “Around the world in 80 days,” Jules Verne
A writer who, according to Nabokov, is worth reading in his youth. The story of the eccentric London inventor Phileas Fogg, who made a bet and went on a tour around the world, was his favorite book from 10 to 15 years. But not longer.
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8. “War of the Worlds,” Herbert Wells
Another author, whom Nabokov loved in his childhood and youth. But even in adulthood, he always spoke warmly of Wells, calling him “a writer, to whom I have the deepest admiration.” The books “Passionate Friendship”, “Anna Veronica” and “Time Machine” considered the best in comparison with what Wells’s contemporaries could write. And the novels “Invisible Man”, “War of the Worlds” and “The First Men on the Moon” were rated “especially good”.
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9. “Praise to the Darkness”, Jorge Luis Borges
Nabokov wrote about Borges: “How freely he breathes in his incomprehensible labyrinths!” Clarity of thought, purity of poetry. A man of infinite talent. ” Better and not say.
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10. “In search of lost time”, Marcel Proust
Nabokov considered this novel Proust the fourth most important masterpiece of the twentieth century. True, with a reservation: only his first half.
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10 books that Nabokov hated
1. The Twelve, Alexander Blok
Nabokov spoke very warmly of Blok’s lyrics, and in his youth considered him his favorite poet, but at the same time noted the weakness of his long works. And the poem “Twelve” in general received a devastating review: “A nightmare. She shyly stood in a false “primitive” tone at the beginning and with a cardboard pink Jesus stuck in the end. “
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2. Don Quixote, Miguel de Cervantes
The book of Cervantes, apparently, did not really like Nabokov. Although he read about it a whole series of lectures to Harvard students, where he took the whole work out literally by chapters – however, now and again supplying his story with brief remarks. Summary of the novel Nabokov gave an unambiguous: “a cruel and rude old book.”
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3. “Crime and Punishment”, Fyodor Dostoevsky
Nabokov not only disliked Dostoevsky, but also awarded him a mountain of unflattering epithets: “lover of cheap sensations,” “vulgar,” “clumsy,” “cheap journalist,” “careless comedian.” And if the “Brothers Karamazov” deserved a modest evaluation “I do not like it very much,” “Crime and punishment” got more: “terrible tyagomotina.”
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4. “For Whom the Bell Tolls”, Ernest Hemingway
By his own admission, Nabokov hated this Hemingway novel. Yes, and the writer himself did not appreciate saying that very high: “Writer books for boys. Of course, Conrad is better. At least it has its own voice. But I did not write anything I wanted to write myself. By mentality and emotionality – hopelessly immature “. Although at the same time Nabokov considered his story “Murderers” and the story “The Old Man and the Sea” delightful.
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5. “Death in Venice”, Thomas Mann
Nabokov defined Mann as “second-rate, ephemeral and bloated writers.” He sincerely resented that “Death in Venice” someone can call a masterpiece: Nabokov considered this “an absurd delusion.”
6. Doctor Zhivago, Boris Pasternak
A fine poet and a bad writer – such a characteristic was received by Pasternak. For the novel “Doctor Zhivago” Nabokov abhorred, considering it unnecessarily melodramatic and disgustingly written: “pro-Bolshevik, historically false, with awkward trivial scenes and trivial coincidences.”
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7. “Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka”, Nikolay Gogol
Nabokov’s attitude toward Gogol is ambiguous and contradictory: “No one takes his mystical moralism seriously. In the worst works, in this his Ukrainian nonsense, he is insignificant, in the best – incomparable and unrepeatable. ” But Gogol’s early works give him a completely unambiguous assessment: “When I want to see a real nightmare, I imagine Gogol scribbling on the Little Russian volume after the volume of” Dikanka “and” Mirgorod “: about ghosts that wander along the banks of the Dnieper, vaudeville Jews and dashing Cossacks “.
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8. “Stranger”, Albert Camus
Existentialists Nabokov not particularly attracted. But despite the fact that he called Camus “an empty place that does not mean anything to me,” the very wording makes it doubtful. Nabokov repeatedly said that he does not like Camus’s work, and gave him the same characteristic as Mannu: “Second-rate, ephemeral, bloated. It’s terrible. “
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9. “Nausea”, Jean Paul Sartre
The feedback about Sartre is promising: “It’s even worse than Camus.” “Nausea” especially did not like the “seemingly tense, but in fact very weak writing style.”
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10. “American tragedy”, Theodore Dreiser
“I do not like. An intimidating mediocrity, “- in such words Nabokov described the work of the classic American literature.
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