From the writer who shocked and delighted the world with his novels Lolita, Pale Fire,
and Ada, or Ardor, and so many others, com... read full description
and Ada, or Ardor, and so many others, com... read full description
reviews
Mar 23, 2011
I am going to become a status notification person for The Short Stories of Vladimir Nabokov. The plan is to read one or two stories a night, three for especially bad days (Kristen's sage advice). I will preserve my sanity, somewhat. Goodreads word limitations doesn't begin to allow for my verbosity. Isn't the Bertrand Russell quote enough? Or the young chick in the chair (I don't want to know who she is. I'm angry enough already)? Goodreads doesn't care about me.
Does anyone else get More...
Does anyone else get More...
22 comments
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Sep 26, 2011
umberto
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Finally I finished reading this book with its 68 stories, I found most of them enjoyable but some a bit lengthy, tedious and typically Russian since, I think, Nabokov's written impeccably in English narrative as well as some French, German and Russian phrases, sentences here and there with which his readers should be familiar, for the sake of more understanding.
One more thing, when we read stories written by Russian authors, they tend to put Russian names as their characters, I wonde More...
One more thing, when we read stories written by Russian authors, they tend to put Russian names as their characters, I wonde More...
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Sep 21, 2010
Cameron
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Vladimir Nabokov is most known for his novel, "Lolita", which is a good thing because it's one of the greatest books ever written but the hurricane of mixed emotions that it stirred up created a cloud of obscurity that kind of blurred anything else he wrote. People assumed that he was very immoral, and that "Lolita" was all that he was about. The people that are under that impression should read this collection of short stories and then smack themselves for making such assump
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Sep 18, 2007
Tessa
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Nabokov writes prose ecstatically--- someone said that, that's on the blurb of this book, and it's true. Equally true is the slightly confusing, stream-of-consciousness poetry that is his writing style. I had to be extremely patient before I got it, it makes you feel a bit stupid in the beginning, but eventually, Nabokov's world will hold you captive and from that, there is no escape.
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Jan 27, 2012
MetalPuff
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Mă scuzați, sunt încă într-un fel de stare de șoc. Până acum am râs ținându-mă de burtă, am aruncat cartea cât colo urlând 'nenorocitule!!! De ce-mi faci asta?!!!' , am plâns absolut nefericită și înjurându-l pe Nabokov din tot sufletul… Fir-ai tu să fii, Vladimir, tu nu ești om, ești univers de cuvinte, ești cosmic pur și simplu.
Povestirile zic. Mi-am umplut cartea cu tichete colorate care semnalează prezența unor povești tari. Prin poveste tare înțeleg desfășurarea aia plină de culoa More...
Povestirile zic. Mi-am umplut cartea cu tichete colorate care semnalează prezența unor povești tari. Prin poveste tare înțeleg desfășurarea aia plină de culoa More...
Nov 10, 2011
matt
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I started it last spring when I went to NYC for vacation. Read it on the bus on the way there, then I thought I lost the copy for good. Luckily it was unearthed amid the general displacements of moving out of my old apartment.
I'm about a 150 pages in. I think it might be a good smaller, bit-by-bit type of reading experience. I do enjoy having some outside material to take refuge in when schoolwork starts to crowd my brain. A couple stories a week on the train? Some lazy More...
Aug 07, 2011
Amanda
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Nearly 70 short stories fill this volume, which is supposed to be all of Nabokov’s known short stories. I read most of these over the last few weeks of December, leaving only a handful to finish up in 2011.
I’ve read a lot of Nabokov over the years, and while I have the utmost respect for everything the guy writes, I find myself pretty divided on what I enjoy and don’t enjoy. I’m particularly fond of his earlier works, and less fond of the latter, mostly because I believe his more recen More...
I’ve read a lot of Nabokov over the years, and while I have the utmost respect for everything the guy writes, I find myself pretty divided on what I enjoy and don’t enjoy. I’m particularly fond of his earlier works, and less fond of the latter, mostly because I believe his more recen More...
May 03, 2010
A Letter That Never Reached Russia
My charming, dear, distant one, I presume you cannot have forgotten anything in the more than eight years of our separation, if you manage to remember even the gray haired, azure-liveried watchman who did not bother us in the least when we would meet, skipping school, on a frosty Petersburg morning, in the Suvorov Museum, so dusty, so small, so similar to a glorified snuffbox. How ardently we kissed behind a waxen grenadier's back! And later, when w More...
My charming, dear, distant one, I presume you cannot have forgotten anything in the more than eight years of our separation, if you manage to remember even the gray haired, azure-liveried watchman who did not bother us in the least when we would meet, skipping school, on a frosty Petersburg morning, in the Suvorov Museum, so dusty, so small, so similar to a glorified snuffbox. How ardently we kissed behind a waxen grenadier's back! And later, when w More...
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Mar 29, 2010
Palmyrah
rated it: 
I know and love Nabokov. Now that I've read this collection I know him a lot better, and probably love him a little bit less, though my appreciation of him as an artist remains undiminished.
Some of these stories are marvels of auctorial craft and inspiration. The rest, with a few exceptions, are very, very good.
I've never taken so long to read a work of fiction. 648 pages of dense, poetic prose. The first third took me a long time because the stories in this part are very More...
Some of these stories are marvels of auctorial craft and inspiration. The rest, with a few exceptions, are very, very good.
I've never taken so long to read a work of fiction. 648 pages of dense, poetic prose. The first third took me a long time because the stories in this part are very More...
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Nov 09, 2011
The Wood-Sprite ***oo (3 stars)
Russian Spoken Here ***oo
Sounds ***oo
Wingstroke ***oo
Gods ***oo
A Matter of Chance ****o
The Seaport ***oo
Revenge ***oo
Beneficence ****o
Details of a Sunset ****o
The Thunderstorm ****o
La Veneziana ****o
Bachmann ****o
The Dragon ***oo
Christmas
A Letter That Never Reach More...
Russian Spoken Here ***oo
Sounds ***oo
Wingstroke ***oo
Gods ***oo
A Matter of Chance ****o
The Seaport ***oo
Revenge ***oo
Beneficence ****o
Details of a Sunset ****o
The Thunderstorm ****o
La Veneziana ****o
Bachmann ****o
The Dragon ***oo
Christmas
A Letter That Never Reach More...
Dec 09, 2009
Rob
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Explanatory Background Statement: You will notice that this book is shelved "unfinished". In between novels and on a short fiction kick, I decided that I should at least dip my toes into a few hallowed literary names before taking on the mantle of my next Big Read. Ellison was one (see also) and Nabokov was the other. I didn't crack the covers on this one expecting to finish it. Especially as I hefted the thick volume from the library's shelf, I knew that my goal was only to get m
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Aug 28, 2007
Eric
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This book started my obsession. Anthony Lane's rapturous review in the New Yorker brought the first mention of Nabokov into my 15-year-old mind. I recently came across a contemporaneous, lukewarm-to-negative notice by Edmund White; glad that review wasn't my first exposure.
There's so much to love here ("The Admiralty Spire" and "Spring in Fialta" are tricky, odd, and totally successful--absolute triumphs of the form), but I'm particularly attached to the impressio More...
There's so much to love here ("The Admiralty Spire" and "Spring in Fialta" are tricky, odd, and totally successful--absolute triumphs of the form), but I'm particularly attached to the impressio More...
11 comments
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Nov 11, 2011
Jolie
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Every time I read something of Nabokov's, I'm simultaneously humbled and awed. I can't even begin to describe how much I love these stories, how much I love Nabokov the writer (although reading Strong Opinions, his collection of essays and interviews, makes me respect him as a person as well), and how much reading his words makes me love language all the more. My god, the man was a genius. I will be reading and rereading these stories for a very long time to come. They are definitely meant to be
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Jan 30, 2010
one a day - we'll see.
"The Wood Sprite": Fairy tale/exiled expatriate metaphor. Hmph. With a complete collection I guess you've gotta have some shite like this.
"Russian Spoken Here": Not knowing much about Russian history, I feel like I'm missing something...
"Sounds": I liked this one a lot - a great use of the second person and you can start to see his style develop.
"Wingstroke": Really liked this one, More...
"The Wood Sprite": Fairy tale/exiled expatriate metaphor. Hmph. With a complete collection I guess you've gotta have some shite like this.
"Russian Spoken Here": Not knowing much about Russian history, I feel like I'm missing something...
"Sounds": I liked this one a lot - a great use of the second person and you can start to see his style develop.
"Wingstroke": Really liked this one, More...
Dec 16, 2009
Kenneth
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Vladimir Nabokov never ceases to restore my faith in the power of prose. As it often happens with favorite writers of mine (Kafka, Hesse, Murakami, Camus...), I find that their short stories stand out as the best reads (to take nothing away from their novels, natch). My copy of the Vintage qpb Stories of V.N., the one with the butterfly on the reflective cover, is a well-loved, well-read volume in my personal library.
My own love of words and the craft of writing informs my Nabokov fand More...
My own love of words and the craft of writing informs my Nabokov fand More...
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Jul 09, 2009
Alex
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Nabokov the alchemist of language. No other writer can call forth sights and sounds to create those indescribable moments and moods like he does.
What Longing!
Some of these stories almost knocked me out of my chair. Even my landlady choked on her earl gray while sampling a story over her morning egg.
What variety of characters! Smelly vengeful angels, immigrant forest spirits, gods and devils, cowards and drunks. Everyone of them alive in my mind.
Lo More...
What Longing!
Some of these stories almost knocked me out of my chair. Even my landlady choked on her earl gray while sampling a story over her morning egg.
What variety of characters! Smelly vengeful angels, immigrant forest spirits, gods and devils, cowards and drunks. Everyone of them alive in my mind.
Lo More...
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Apr 16, 2009
Pa
rated it:
Subtly and poetically rendered. Some stories have wonderful, unforgettable openings and some are simply unforgettable. Nabokov's English vocabulary (most of the stories in this collection were written in Russian but then translated by Nabokov himself and his son) is as big and deep as the Pacific Ocean. I did try to look up new words but then gave up; there were just too many. PH thinks it's bad writing but I kind of disagree.
Nov 17, 2008
Rowena
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This was my first taste of Vladimir Nabokov, and really, by page 4, I was mesmerized. VN is a true master of storytelling...the way he spins the delicate web of his story, interspersing the tale with enthralling jewels of pure thought and wisdom. There were 67 short stories in total and when reading his "liner notes" at the end, every story stood out poignantly in my memory. There were love stories, horror stories, mysteries...they ran the whole gamut. Below are some of my most favorit
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Apr 09, 2009
Stephan
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I'm still working my way through the earlier stories; this rating is more for the latter stories, originally written in English: Scenes From the Life of a Double-Monster, A Forgotten Poet, Signs and Symbols, A Conversation Piece, The Vane Sisters. Stories populated by doppelgangers and doubles, madness, and beautiful grotesques. There are three master-works here: Scenes, Signs and Symbols, and A Forgotten Poet.
Oct 06, 2009
The only Nabokov I've read was 'Lolita,' which was brilliant and reason enough to see how the man constructs short stories. But I also saw a video on Youtube recently in which Nabokov was interviewed by a man (whose name I can't recall) who seemed completely unable to understand how an artist is not his book, and a character is not his creator. Nabokov was brilliant (and bemused) in his own defense.
Jan 15, 2012
I don't know what happened, though the decrepitude of my iPod might explain it (in the past four years it twice has resurrected itself from the Sad Mac Face). I was listening to a story about White Russian emigrés in Berlin keeping a GPU agent captive and then all of a sudden I was listening to a love story with Bach and some rain with no jump in elapsed time. I'll pause this for a bit and come back to it later.
Apr 19, 2009
raul
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I recently learned that Nabokov's family spoke English, French & Russian at home and that he learned the 3 languages simultaneously. Knowing that English was not a second language learned later in life eases my mind a bit, otherwise his gift of poetic prose would be too absurd... This is one of my favorite short story collections by a single writer and I'm a short story junky.
Sep 14, 2009
"Matter of CHance" Oh my. OOOOOOOOHHHHHH MY.
"Sounds" is the sparkliest, twinkliest thing I have read and made me burst out crying in the shower about 6 hours after I read it cuz it was so pretty and sweet and moving. And for once in my life I don't mean bowel-moving.
"Sounds" is the sparkliest, twinkliest thing I have read and made me burst out crying in the shower about 6 hours after I read it cuz it was so pretty and sweet and moving. And for once in my life I don't mean bowel-moving.
Dec 17, 2009
Jason
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With keen and lucid language Nabokov effectively grapples with his own and the world's socio-political diversity and drama. The metaphor of "The Wood Sprite" can bring to tears while "The Christmas Story" is simply compelling. An intriguing and fun read for anyone.
Sep 04, 2008
Marty
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If you ever get the chance to read any works by Nabokov,you will not be dissapointed.and for those unfamiliar with his work, this collection is a perfect palce to start. There is something to be said for a writer that can flawlessly portay all walks of life, across the world and time it's self with sheer poetry and grace.
I feel honored to have come across this collection. Each story is a jewel, it's own painting, it's own little universe. While some of these tales are truely terrifying an More...
I feel honored to have come across this collection. Each story is a jewel, it's own painting, it's own little universe. While some of these tales are truely terrifying an More...
Apr 29, 2009
It's funny, I started this last Wednesday night and later realized his birthday was Thursday, in 1899. I've just read one story so far, "Beneficence", but so far it's some of the most beautiful + life-affirming writing I've ever read.
Feb 09, 2012
Valerie
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Even though I like Nabokov, I had trouble sticking with his short stories. I read about 20 of them and decided to put the book aside. May pick it up again later. His use of language is exquisite, rendering many of the stories spellbinding, but it seems like they either have amazing language or great plots, not both. For that reason, I would recommend purchasing this book only if you're a staunch Nabokov fan. Otherwise, just dabble in a few stories and see how you like them. Out of the ones
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May 08, 2010
Heather
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Nabokov was a master of the short form, and this collection is awe inspiring in its scope and beauty. Some of the stories ("A Letter that Never Reached Russia," "A Russian Beauty," "Signs and Symbols" to name a few) literally took my breath away, while I want to deconstruct others piece by piece to learn how he made them. The language of the stories, in translation or written originally in English, is always precise and delicate. As with any collection of this natur
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Jul 08, 2010
Joaquin
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When I need to feel the fullness of life- all encompassing- I read these stories again and then again.
