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Tyrants Destroyed and Other Stories
The author comments upon the circumstances surrounding the writing of each of the thirteen stories produced between 1924 and 1939
252 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1975
11 people are currently reading
287 people want to read
About the author
Vladimir Nabokov
864 books15.2k followersVladimir Nabokov (Russian: Владимир Набоков) was a writer defined by a life of forced movement and extraordinary linguistic transformation. Born into a wealthy, liberal aristocratic family in St. Petersburg, Russia, he grew up trilingual, speaking Russian, English, and French in a household that nurtured his intellectual curiosities, including a lifelong passion for butterflies. This seemingly idyllic, privileged existence was abruptly shattered by the Bolshevik Revolution, which forced the family into permanent exile in 1919. This early, profound experience of displacement and the loss of a homeland became a central, enduring theme in his subsequent work, fueling his exploration of memory, nostalgia, and the irretrievable past.
The first phase of his literary life began in Europe, primarily in Berlin, where he established himself as a leading voice among the Russian émigré community under the pseudonym "Vladimir Sirin". During this prolific period, he penned nine novels in his native tongue, showcasing a precocious talent for intricate plotting and character study. Works like The Defense explored obsession through the extended metaphor of chess, while Invitation to a Beheading served as a potent, surreal critique of totalitarian absurdity. In 1925, he married Véra Slonim, an intellectual force in her own right, who would become his indispensable partner, editor, translator, and lifelong anchor.
The escalating shadow of Nazism necessitated another, urgent relocation in 1940, this time to the United States. It was here that Nabokov undertook an extraordinary linguistic metamorphosis, making the challenging yet resolute shift from Russian to English as his primary language of expression. He became a U.S. citizen in 1945, solidifying his new life in North America. To support his family, he took on academic positions, first founding the Russian department at Wellesley College, and later serving as a highly regarded professor of Russian and European literature at Cornell University from 1948 to 1959.
During this academic tenure, he also dedicated significant time to his other great passion: lepidoptery. He worked as an unpaid curator of butterflies at Harvard University's Museum of Comparative Zoology. His scientific work was far from amateurish; he developed novel taxonomic methods and a groundbreaking, highly debated theory on the migration patterns and phylogeny of the Polyommatus blue butterflies, a hypothesis that modern DNA analysis confirmed decades later.
Nabokov achieved widespread international fame and financial independence with the publication of Lolita in 1955, a novel that was initially met with controversy and censorship battles due to its provocative subject matter concerning a middle-aged literature professor and his obsession with a twelve-year-old girl. The novel's critical and commercial success finally allowed him to leave teaching and academia behind. In 1959, he and Véra moved permanently to the quiet luxury of the Montreux Palace Hotel in Switzerland, where he focused solely on writing, translating his earlier Russian works into meticulous English, and studying local butterflies.
His later English novels, such as Pale Fire (1962), a complex, postmodern narrative structured around a 999-line poem and its delusional commentator, cemented his reputation as a master stylist and a technical genius. His literary style is characterized by intricate wordplay, a profound use of allusion, structural complexity, and an insistence on the artist's total, almost tyrannical, control over their created world. Nabokov often expressed disdain for what he termed "topical trash" and the simplistic interpretations of Freudian psychoanalysis, preferring instead to focus on the power of individual consciousness, the mechanics of memory, and the intricate, often deceptive, interplay between art and perceived "reality". His unique body of work, straddling multiple cultures and languages, continues to
The first phase of his literary life began in Europe, primarily in Berlin, where he established himself as a leading voice among the Russian émigré community under the pseudonym "Vladimir Sirin". During this prolific period, he penned nine novels in his native tongue, showcasing a precocious talent for intricate plotting and character study. Works like The Defense explored obsession through the extended metaphor of chess, while Invitation to a Beheading served as a potent, surreal critique of totalitarian absurdity. In 1925, he married Véra Slonim, an intellectual force in her own right, who would become his indispensable partner, editor, translator, and lifelong anchor.
The escalating shadow of Nazism necessitated another, urgent relocation in 1940, this time to the United States. It was here that Nabokov undertook an extraordinary linguistic metamorphosis, making the challenging yet resolute shift from Russian to English as his primary language of expression. He became a U.S. citizen in 1945, solidifying his new life in North America. To support his family, he took on academic positions, first founding the Russian department at Wellesley College, and later serving as a highly regarded professor of Russian and European literature at Cornell University from 1948 to 1959.
During this academic tenure, he also dedicated significant time to his other great passion: lepidoptery. He worked as an unpaid curator of butterflies at Harvard University's Museum of Comparative Zoology. His scientific work was far from amateurish; he developed novel taxonomic methods and a groundbreaking, highly debated theory on the migration patterns and phylogeny of the Polyommatus blue butterflies, a hypothesis that modern DNA analysis confirmed decades later.
Nabokov achieved widespread international fame and financial independence with the publication of Lolita in 1955, a novel that was initially met with controversy and censorship battles due to its provocative subject matter concerning a middle-aged literature professor and his obsession with a twelve-year-old girl. The novel's critical and commercial success finally allowed him to leave teaching and academia behind. In 1959, he and Véra moved permanently to the quiet luxury of the Montreux Palace Hotel in Switzerland, where he focused solely on writing, translating his earlier Russian works into meticulous English, and studying local butterflies.
His later English novels, such as Pale Fire (1962), a complex, postmodern narrative structured around a 999-line poem and its delusional commentator, cemented his reputation as a master stylist and a technical genius. His literary style is characterized by intricate wordplay, a profound use of allusion, structural complexity, and an insistence on the artist's total, almost tyrannical, control over their created world. Nabokov often expressed disdain for what he termed "topical trash" and the simplistic interpretations of Freudian psychoanalysis, preferring instead to focus on the power of individual consciousness, the mechanics of memory, and the intricate, often deceptive, interplay between art and perceived "reality". His unique body of work, straddling multiple cultures and languages, continues to
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
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April 18, 2023This collection of short stories by Vladimir Nabokov, especially after I read his uncollected works, helps to give shape in not only what he was concerned with in his short fiction, but also what he was specifically looking to achieve with his story collections.
There are thirteen stories in this collection and more than about half of them feel like sketches and vignettes, still with impeccable writing, but limited in their focus. The absolute two strongest pieces for me were "Lik" about a man who becomes embroiled in a brutish set of experiences with his childhood bully, and the title story "Tyrants Destroyed" about a man slowly working himself up to commit an assassination, or so it seems.
It's wild to me that Nabokov claims (perhaps truthfully) that he didn't read Kafka until well into his writing life because so many of these stories feel like a perfect and beautiful blend of Kafka and Stefan Zweig.
There are thirteen stories in this collection and more than about half of them feel like sketches and vignettes, still with impeccable writing, but limited in their focus. The absolute two strongest pieces for me were "Lik" about a man who becomes embroiled in a brutish set of experiences with his childhood bully, and the title story "Tyrants Destroyed" about a man slowly working himself up to commit an assassination, or so it seems.
It's wild to me that Nabokov claims (perhaps truthfully) that he didn't read Kafka until well into his writing life because so many of these stories feel like a perfect and beautiful blend of Kafka and Stefan Zweig.
October 15, 2018
The title story is brilliance, others very good, a few OK.
December 27, 2013
It's been a while since I read Nabokov and I'd forgotten how stupendously brilliant he can be. This collection of short stories ranges from breathtakingly written dissections of humanity to others which are mere trifles. Because of the range, I'm giving 4 rather than 5 stars; but I feel a bit mean about it because when Nabokov is on fire the whole world should be on fire and when it's a trifle it's still a delicious trifle.
My favourites here are "Tyrants Destroyed", a man's diatribe against a country's tyrannical leader; "Terror", which perfectly encapsulates the sudden - devastating - feeling of mortality; "A Matter of Chance", where one man's opportunity of happiness is whisked away by the misalignment of the characters, and "Perfection" where a tutor accompanying a student to a beach resort falls prey to imagination and speculation which tussles with reality.
I should have made notes to quote from the book, because some of the prose and wordplay is so precise, intelligent, and inspiring that it's quite - and I use this word sparingly - orgasmic. But I didn't, so you have to read it for yourselves.
My favourites here are "Tyrants Destroyed", a man's diatribe against a country's tyrannical leader; "Terror", which perfectly encapsulates the sudden - devastating - feeling of mortality; "A Matter of Chance", where one man's opportunity of happiness is whisked away by the misalignment of the characters, and "Perfection" where a tutor accompanying a student to a beach resort falls prey to imagination and speculation which tussles with reality.
I should have made notes to quote from the book, because some of the prose and wordplay is so precise, intelligent, and inspiring that it's quite - and I use this word sparingly - orgasmic. But I didn't, so you have to read it for yourselves.
December 30, 2011
Os contos de "Perfeição" foram escritos nos primeiros anos de exílio de Vladimir Nabokov. Depois da traumática saída da Rússsia pós-1917, ele morou na França e Alemanha antes de se mudar para os Estados Unidos e tornar-se um dos maiores artífices-estilistas da língua inglesa.
A maioria foi produzida na década de 20. É provável que Nabokov tenha inspirado de alguma forma gente como Jean-Paul Sartre e Hermann Hesse. Há contos sobre professores pobres e nerds com medo do mar, garçons cocainômanos e ideólogos vingativos.
Nabokov é prosa de luxo, linguagem clássica que contrasta com a atual intelligentsia literária brasileira, permanentemente calcada no modernismo de 1922 que ainda impregna boa parte de nossos autores contemporâneos e aproxima perigosamente a palavra escrita do coloquialismo. Que haja mais Nabokov na cesta básica dos cursos de Comunicação e Letras.
A maioria foi produzida na década de 20. É provável que Nabokov tenha inspirado de alguma forma gente como Jean-Paul Sartre e Hermann Hesse. Há contos sobre professores pobres e nerds com medo do mar, garçons cocainômanos e ideólogos vingativos.
Nabokov é prosa de luxo, linguagem clássica que contrasta com a atual intelligentsia literária brasileira, permanentemente calcada no modernismo de 1922 que ainda impregna boa parte de nossos autores contemporâneos e aproxima perigosamente a palavra escrita do coloquialismo. Que haja mais Nabokov na cesta básica dos cursos de Comunicação e Letras.
May 25, 2009
It is redundant to extol the virtues of Nabokov as a storyteller, but perhaps unavoidable. I haven't read any Nabokov in a while, and while reading the title story a grin broke over my face as I remembered and savored how excellently and consistently Nabokov creates a unique and believable voice for each of his narrators.
"A Nursery Tale", the second story in the collection, was an amusing configuration of some familiar characters and certainly deserves repeated close readings.
"A Nursery Tale", the second story in the collection, was an amusing configuration of some familiar characters and certainly deserves repeated close readings.
May 28, 2010
Some of his stories are stunningly mediocre, which I found oddly comforting.
My favorite was probably the one where a fellow has a deal with the devil and fails - the plot is so pat, but the execution is lovely. I guess that's the thing with Nabokov. He's strongest in his descriptions and characterizations, not his plots.
The little forwards to each story make him out as rather a jerk.
My favorite was probably the one where a fellow has a deal with the devil and fails - the plot is so pat, but the execution is lovely. I guess that's the thing with Nabokov. He's strongest in his descriptions and characterizations, not his plots.
The little forwards to each story make him out as rather a jerk.
January 25, 2022
This is the second Nabokov book I have read (the first being Glory), and I have similar feelings about both books. Nabokov constructs complex yet musical prose in precise and detailed language, and he develops his characters and describes his settings fully. Yet those talents don’t do enough for me to want to read more. Some of the plots are uninspired if not simply boring, and Nabokov’s erudite tone at times seems overblown: I kept saying to myself while reading, “Why is he using 100 words to write something that could be just as skillfully rendered in 50?” His characters’ lives, situations, and conflicts are generally foreign to me and don’t have the same universal appeal of many of his contemporaries (such as John Steinbeck and Thomas Mann). And although I didn’t dislike any of the 14 stories in this collection, I wasn’t enthralled by any of them either. Grade: B-
February 24, 2025
"Did it occur to me that I might be seeing him for the last time? Of course it did. That is exactly what occurred to me: yes, I am seeing you for the last time; this, in fact is what I always think, about everything, about everyone. My life is a perpetual good-bye to objects and people, that often do not pay the least attention to my bitter, brief, insane salutation."
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September 3, 20243.5⭐️
“A Nursery Tale” was probably my fav short story of them all. A very interesting precursor to “Lolita” as they both share similar themes. And the first essay titled “Tyrants Destroyed” was a perfect encapsulation of the mediocrity that exists within powerful leaders(tyrants).
“A Nursery Tale” was probably my fav short story of them all. A very interesting precursor to “Lolita” as they both share similar themes. And the first essay titled “Tyrants Destroyed” was a perfect encapsulation of the mediocrity that exists within powerful leaders(tyrants).
April 1, 2019
The first two stories, Tyrants Destroyed, and A Nursery Tale are particularly good.
January 14, 2022
I enjoyed the writing style and wording in these short stories.
November 23, 2013
read to page 99
January 11, 2014
Not bad for a book of short stories. Loved the devil fairytale but found the famous Vane Sisters a bit dull. I'd give it an extra .5 for including stuffed skunks.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews