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Invitation to a Beheading

Vladimir Nabokov

3.94 · Rating details · 11,505 ratings · 715 reviews

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Like Kafka's The Castle, Invitation to a Beheading embodies a vision of a bizarre and irrational world. In an unnamed dream country, the young man Cincinnatus C. is condemned to death by beheading for "gnostical turpitude", an imaginary crime that defies definition. Cincinnatus spends his final days in an absurd j ...more

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Paperback, 223 pages

Published September 19th 1989 by Vintage (first published 1935)

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Nov 16, 2017 BlackOxford rated it it was amazing

Shelves: slavic

Nabokov’s Cave

In his allegory of the Cave, Plato suggests a limit on human knowledge: that we see only shadows of reality. Immanuel Kant went Plato one better two millennia later and claimed that we can’t even apprehend the shadows properly, that even these in their ‘true selves’ are beyond comprehension.

Invitation to a Beheading offers an alternative to these classical philosophical, and inherently dismal and nihilistic, views. For Nabokov the world is not hidden beyond an epistemological veil ...more

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Oct 28, 2017 Fionnuala added it · review of another edition

Shelves: nabokov-novels, translated-from-russian, 2017

It is amazing how farcical this book is considering the ominous title but it is also amazing how tragic it is considering the omnipresent farce.
Of course there’s no better writer at manipulating our emotions than Vladimir Nabokov. And in this novel, we are invited to share that fate with the hero, Cincinnatus, whose emotions are played upon unmercifully not only by every character in the book but also by the author.
Nabokov takes delight in using vocabulary and phrasing that seem perfectly inno It is amazing how farcical this book is considering the ominous title but it is also amazing how tragic it is considering the omnipresent farce.
Of course there’s no better writer at manipulating our emotions than Vladimir Nabokov. And in this novel, we are invited to share that fate with the hero, Cincinnatus, whose emotions are played upon unmercifully not only by every character in the book but also by the author.
Nabokov takes delight in using vocabulary and phrasing that seem perfectly innocent at first glance. It’s only moments later that the axe drops, and the axe drops often - like those ‘curio’ Russian toys where the bear chops the block over and over. It might be a simple remark that is made to the hero about the slenderness of his neck or a comment about the odd shadow cast on it by the light. It might be the description of a beautifully sharpened pencil, as long as the life of any man except Cincinnatus, and with an ebony gleam to each of its six facets, or it might be the mention of the river Strop which seemed to curve like a sickle across the valley. In fact that curving river was mentioned so frequently that I looked up the word ‘strop’ and discovered that it is a strip of leather used to sharpen a blade.
Nothing in this book is innocent. Not even Cincinnatus’s tendency to suffer from syncope or momentary lapses of consciousness. What’s the origin of that word, I wondered? Oh, right, to strike or cut off. And cope sounds like Kopf, the German for ‘head’.
Not to mention the jokes the characters like to tell each other: ‘Take the word “anxiety”,’ Cincinnatus’s brother-in-law, the wit, was saying to him. ‘Now take away the word “tiny”, eh? Comes out funny, doesn’t it?

Cincinnatus’s anxiety is actually less about the axe and more about knowing the moment it will fall. As a condemned man (but for what crime we are not told), he feels he has a right to the very thing that is the special privilege of the condemned: knowing the exact moment of death, and therefore how much time he has left.
But everything in the book conspires against that knowledge in the most absurd fashion, the walls, with their arms around each other’s shoulders like a foursome discussing a square secret in inaudible whispers, the chairs that moved about by themselves, the interchangeable prison director and warden, the child who flits about like a butterfly, the greedy velvet spider with hazel eyes which somehow resembled the prisoner’s wife.
And meanwhile there’s the absurdly interfering bong of the prison clock, it struck eleven times, thought for a moment, and struck once more, or it struck some unknown hour, now with banal dreariness, now with mounting exultation, finally with a hoarse rattle.

Some aspects of this story reminded me of Gogol’s The Overcoat or Diary of a Madman. In fact, more than in previous Nabokovs I’ve read, this book reminded me very much of Russian literature. Gogol’s shadow was all around but also Dostoyevsky’s. I frequently thought of Rodion Raskolnikov’s room in Crime and Punishment, and of all the strange people coming and going while R lay silent and impervious to their efforts to make him speak. And there just happens to be a character here called Rodion.

Of all the absurdities in the book, not the least absurd is the situation of the reader at the beginning. The first page reads like it should be the last: the death sentence pronounced on the prisoner. What motivation have we to read on, knowing the outcome in advance? But we do, because, like Cincinnatus, we cannot resist hope.
As for the last page, when I finally got to it, I jumped up and ruffled my hair!
I hope Nabokov’s ghost is happy. ...more

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May 15, 2012 Paquita Maria Sanchez rated it really liked it

Shelves: literature, russia

So I can't do what I wanted to do, and smother you with quotes from this novel, shrouding you in a lovely blanket of Nabokov's shrewd, simile-dripping observations about the more esoteric subtleties of human behavior and the emotions which inspire such behavior, all circled by and interwoven with the ornate latticework that is his tendency toward purple prose which he frequently hammers to bits with smash-cut asides and stern, terse sentence fragments presented like mantras for emotional yucky s So I can't do what I wanted to do, and smother you with quotes from this novel, shrouding you in a lovely blanket of Nabokov's shrewd, simile-dripping observations about the more esoteric subtleties of human behavior and the emotions which inspire such behavior, all circled by and interwoven with the ornate latticework that is his tendency toward purple prose which he frequently hammers to bits with smash-cut asides and stern, terse sentence fragments presented like mantras for emotional yucky stuff. I'm sure that made no sense, but I am currently malnourished and over-coffee'd, so it will have to do for now. You know, it's Nabokov. Anyway, the reason that I can't quote this book until my fingers bleed is because the Austin library system asked for a 'break.' It's not over, but they do want some time alone, so they blocked my account and demanded that I return my million overdue items immediately, which I proceeded to do on my way home from work after finishing this novel. Nabokov went with them, the bastard. When I can afford to pay off a few bucks of my debt, they will take me back in their loving arms, but for now I guess I will just have to finish the many 500+ page novels that I own and have read sporadic chunks of. You care about all this, trust me.

So, Nabokov.

I can say this without the book in front of me: this was a deviation from the more edit-heavy Nabokov I am used to. There are paragraphs which bleed over pages and pages, predominantly consisting of internal monologues lacking in proper punctuation or breaks in thought, sprawling rambles of collaged paranoid notions and both frightening and hysterical imagery, over-dissections of spiderwebs and furniture and the jailer's jiggly jowls, hallucinations described in vivid detail, surreal imagery presented as hard fact, questions unanswered. Pomo Kafka, brought to you by Vladimir Nabokov, Inc., via time machine. Basically, this is quite an experimental work for the man as I know him from reading just four of his novels, and in such is a rewarding and perception-bending reading experience for someone who already found him to be a voice of reason in a rushing river of nonsense.

The best I can gather from this work is that it is a meditation on feeling outside of the society surrounding you, or more specifically, how Nabokov felt outside of the society surrounding Nabokov, the disparity between how he was expected to behave and create and how he felt he should (and therefore tended to) behave and create. At the risk of feeding that somewhat obnoxious aforementioned 'Kafka-esque' notion people are always throwing out there about anyone incorporating magical realism, ambiguity, and metaphor to a fictional work, I must confess that it did remind me, in theme, of A Hunger Artist: a man doomed to fester away in a cage because he is misunderstood, yet refuses to conform his notions of self and presentation of said self to the more shallow expectations of the world at large. Rather than cave to the pressures of the popular appetite for entertainment, he chooses to jump on his sword in the service of both his pride and his integrity. Right at this moment, I am guilty of something which always bugs me in reviews and, more commonly, troll-y comments: the assumption that the voice of the narrator or protagonist is necessarily the voice, the mind-frame, opinions, and lifestyle choices of the author, every single time indisputably, but here I feel pretty alright about it. To me at least, this sounds like Nabokov discussing what it is to be Nabokov. On that note, let me be clear about one thing: he doesn't fuck any children. ...more

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Feb 16, 2019 Steven Godin rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, russia-ukraine

Nabokov’s Invitation to a Beheading, which largely takes place within the cramped confinements of a jail cell is possibly his most indubitable examination of a theme which seemed to have followed him throughout his career. That being the idea of a citizen who aspires to be different, the person who fails to assimilate, and the ways in which society either forces that divergent voice to join in unison, or ends up extinguishes it.

I have loved most of his work, simply down to that superlative pros Nabokov’s Invitation to a Beheading, which largely takes place within the cramped confinements of a jail cell is possibly his most indubitable examination of a theme which seemed to have followed him throughout his career. That being the idea of a citizen who aspires to be different, the person who fails to assimilate, and the ways in which society either forces that divergent voice to join in unison, or ends up extinguishes it.

I have loved most of his work, simply down to that superlative prose, but this one felt a little different from the rest, with a bit of Kafka thrown in, and also George Orwell springs to mind. It also featured less of his dark sense of humour than some of his other novels, and as a whole, even though I wouldn't consider this near his best work, it's still Nabokov, and having read this twice now, I would say it was better the second thing around.

The set-up is quite simple - a man called Cincinnatus C awaits for the day of his execution, and through his eyes Nabokov demonstrates not only the mechanics of a totalitarian state, but the way in which any one of us can have our dignity stripped by the force of conformity. All Cincinnatus wants to know is when the time has come when he is going to die, but he is instead played around with mentally in one big game. He is constantly irritated by the jailers as they go about eating his food, turning his cell into their own office, trying to crack jokes, with one even wanting to dance with him to lighten the mood. And the thing is, they never at any time act with any cruel intentions towards him. They are seemingly befuddled by Cincinnatus, and vice-versa. Through their sprightly antics, Cincinnatus simply refuses to accept this role of playmate, and is holding out to his last breath against indignity.

Through the narrative (which, when I think about it could have worked as a play) Nabokov explores the ways in which a society can force mortification upon its members. Having no means of escape from his incarceration, all Cincinnatus can do is keep an astute stiff upper lip, and doggedly refuse to be a pawn in the tomfoolery of others. He, like any non-conformist in a society full of conformists, is in a no-win situation. If he conforms — plays his role in the little games that the jailers construct for him — he loses his dignity. If he refuses to conform he is treated like a child and must abide by in vexation.

Nabokov creates an absurd but scary vision of an irrational world, and while the nature of the writing here is somewhat Kafkaesque, Nabokov never actually read any Kafka when he wrote Invitation to a Beheading. In addition, neither Kafka, nor any writers dabbling with these themes combine their philosophy with surrealism in the same way or to the same degree as does Nabokov does in this novel. He is also clever in the way, that under the surface, there is more going on than meets the eye.

Nabokov simply impresses again, with a few minor blemishes aside, this was another really good read. ...more

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Apr 12, 2017 Sidharth Vardhan rated it it was amazing

Shelves: russian, dystopian-utopian-futurisitic

“I suppose the pain of parting will be red and loud.”

Okay not better than Lolita, but I don't know why it isn't Nabokov's second most read novel here. He himself said that while he held the greatest affection for Lolita, it was Invitation to a Beheading that he held in the greatest esteem. Just check out this for an opening sentence:

"In accordance with the law the death sentence was announced to Cincinnatus C. in a whisper."

And there you have in the two quotes the color red, loudness, an

“I suppose the pain of parting will be red and loud.”

"In accordance with the law the death sentence was announced to Cincinnatus C. in a whisper."

And there you have in the two quotes the color red, loudness, and secrecy - in short a feel of Soviet Russia. But Nabokov doesn't want you to think of Soviet Russia while reading it. And it is in protogonist, Cincinnatus' crime we discover what it is really about. He was "accused of the most terrible of crimes, gnostical turpitude, so rare and so unutterable that it was necessary to use circumlocutions like “impenetrability,” “opacity,” “occlusion” - the crime, in brief of being someone difficult to know. That could a crime in Soviet Russia too, which wanted the public and private life to be same, which effectively means no privacy, no secrets etc.

But C, is not shallow like others. He is conscious of depths in himself that he himself hasn't penetrated. And so. this crime, that is, the lack of transparency, was to show up sooner or later. He is accused, found guilty, and an execution is ordered. The sentence is welcomed with smiles, masses seem to derive a kind of sadistic pleasure from idea of an execution. The ease and lack of seruousness with which people treat him and his sentence is appaling.

In such a world, C. finds himself, an outsider, looking for escape. Smacks of Kafka's alienated characters? Is but there is no cause-and-effect relationship. Apparently, Nabokov hadn't heard of him when he wrote it.

It is hardly saying anything new that people who are different (hardly a virtue in itself, but not a vice either), who don't have that false virtue of being normal, the golden mean of mediocrity in all qualities are often persecuted by society in all parts of the world - and even where they are not they do always feel persecuted -

"I am here through an error—not in this prison, specifically—but in this whole terrible, striped world; a world which seems not a bad example of amateur craftsmanship, but is in reality calamity, horror, madness, error—and look, the curio slays the tourist, the gigantic carved bear brings its wooden mallet down upon me. "

The images of golden cage and a spider devouring its prey add to this atmosphere where feeling of being unnessarily persecuted gathers strength. And he tries hard, hard to make sense of this world around him

"Involuntarily yielding to the temptation of logical development, involuntarily (be careful, Cincinnatus!) forging into a chain all the things that were quite harmless as long as they remained unlinked, he inspired the meaningless with meaning and the lifeless with life."

But it is useless, all his attempts to make himself understood by these shallow people (or at least, shallow to him) fail:

"I myself picture all this so clearly, but you are not I, and therein lies the irreparable calamity."

since he is surrounded by people who are more puppets than human beings - full of acting and role plays.

“I am surrounded by some sort of wretched specters, not by people. They torment me as can torment only senseless visions, bad dreams, dregs of delirium, the drivel of nightmares and everything that passes down here for real life.”

Yes, there seems to be a superiority complex about him but that is an understandable reaction in someone who hasn't met a like minded soul in his life - it is difficult tobe always understanding when no one understands you. There is nothing for him but to scorn inwardly as his prison mate charges into generally admired eloquence saying cliche things with cliche phrases or his executioner who is a sort of celebrity.

And so, C. turns to the last resort of all those misunderstood souls - writing

"I am chained to this table like a cup to a drinking fountain, and will not rise till I have said what I want. I repeat (gathering new momentum in the rhythm of repetitive incantations), I repeat: there is something I know, there is something I know, there is something … When still, a child, living still in a canary-yellow, large, cold house where they were preparing me and hundreds of other children for secure nonexistence as adult dummies, into which all my coevals turned without effort or pain; already then, in those accursed days, amid rag books and brightly painted school materials and soul-chilling drafts, I knew without knowing, I knew without wonder, I knew as one knows oneself, I knew what it is impossible to know—and, I would say, I knew it even more clearly than I do now. "

but even that doesn't console his soul:

"The thought, when written down, becomes less oppressive, but some thoughts are like a cancerous tumor: you express is, you excise it, and it grows back worse than before.”

“...All my best words are deserters and do not answer the trumpet call, and the remainder are cripples.”

BIG SPOILER AHEAD READER DISCRESTION IS ADVISED

The twist in the end suggests that C. was a willing participitant of his own execution - there is something to think about for those who find themselves presecuted by the world for being different. ...more

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Apr 16, 2013 Vit Babenco rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

We are all sentenced to death right from the start… right at birth. And all our life we wait for an execution which will come, sooner or later…

And instead of the clear and precise work that is needed, instead of a gradual preparation of the soul for that morning when it will have to get up, when – when you, soul, will be offered the executioner’s pail to wash in – Instead, you involuntarily indulge in banal senseless dreams of escape – alas, of escape…

While it may seem at first that Invitation ...more

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Aug 17, 2016 Forrest rated it really liked it

Don't fall into the lazy-readers' trap of thinking that Invitation to a Beheading is just some pastiche of Kafka. This was my misconception for the first 70 pages or so. Nabokov claims not to have read The Trial before writing this work, and I am inclined to believe him, given the limited availability of Kafka's text outside of the German language at that time (Nabokov did not read German). But the close kinship these texts have is very apparent . . .

. . . at first.

It is not too long, however, ...more

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Sep 12, 2017 ArturoBelano rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

" Hapishane sakinlerinin görkemli kır manzaraları, dostlarla gezintiler, aile sofraları ve cinsel ilişki gibi içerikleri tutukluluk durumu ve statüsüyle bağdaşmayan gece düşleri görmeleri durumunda bunları anında bastırmaları..."

Nabokov'un Rusça yazdığı kitaplardan biri olan İnfaza Çağrı düş kurmanın dahi kural ve mevzuat ile çevrelendiği bir hapishanede idamı bekleyen Cincinnatus'un hikayesi. Yazıldıktan çok sonra basılma imkanı bulan bu kitap az başını ağrıtmamış Nabokov'un. Edebi çevrelerce ...more

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Dec 28, 2010 Marc Kozak rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, post-modern-crazy-pants, classics

I have played the piano since I was three years old. Thanks to the encouragement of my family and long hours of practice, I have been lucky enough to play large functions, concerts, and sold-out rock shows at venues I grew up dreaming of playing at. I have worked with truly great musicians, and been a part of many professional recordings. It's fostered a life-long love and appreciation for music, and I feel blessed to have had the experiences I've had.

But I have never written a song in my entire ...more

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Dec 21, 2009 Eh?Eh! rated it liked it

Shelves: hafwfu, goodreaders-made-me, lit-huh-rary, babble-added

The writing is pretty. Not the right word but I'm too lazy to use the thesaurus. Effective? It was simple but I found my imagination engaged. There was a passage (one of the many) where Cincinnatus was describing his cell, and as his mind wandered my wandered also, not from lack of interest or boredom. I read it over maybe five times before I could bring myself to move on.

This book made me scratch the right side of my head, the underdeveloped nearly concave side, in confusion. My readings usuall The writing is pretty. Not the right word but I'm too lazy to use the thesaurus. Effective? It was simple but I found my imagination engaged. There was a passage (one of the many) where Cincinnatus was describing his cell, and as his mind wandered my wandered also, not from lack of interest or boredom. I read it over maybe five times before I could bring myself to move on.

This book made me scratch the right side of my head, the underdeveloped nearly concave side, in confusion. My readings usually (besides the floof) have direct practical application, functionality, numbers...none of which are required when it comes to Ahrt.* It reminds me of a glass vase display I saw a long time ago, where the curves of the vases were visible but they had been pulled apart while still molten so that the halves were joined by drooping strands; I'd thought of Venus flytraps with salivary strands but the Ahrtist’s blurb spoke of representing urban deterioration and the torturous agony of our separation from nature...huh? It also reminds me of this ceramic display of heads with phallic noses (ceramic Ahrtists love phalluses) that appeared to be crudely and haphazardly thrown together; but a closer inspection showed careful detailing and my initial reaction of "my four year old could make that!" (if I’d had a four year old) changed into "that's pretty cool" (the Ahrtist's blurb spoke of childhood memories of faces...Ahrtists....) Literature is like that glass and ceramic to me, where I often try to take too literal an interpretation and miss its worth.

Since I can't block out the over-literal tendency, I have two thoughts on what this story means. "Means." 1) One heck of a description of writer's block. Not an original thought since it fell out of C's difficulty with writing a letter. The cell and interchangeable jailers represent publishers who pressure for a cookie-cutter action bestseller, the unfaithful wife is the bestseller plot who gives herself to others while C dawdles (Dan Brown?), the crime is wanting to write Ahrt. Eh? 2) A sinister allegory on social conformity. Again, not original since the book kept referring to his difference from others, an "opaqueness."

I do think I'm missing the point. The significance of the mother's visit and Emmie? The oak novel and the draft in the cell becoming a leafy breeze with an acorn dropping out of nowhere? The references to things being off-center like the peonies being placed off-center on the table before the first interview, the light off-center in the ceiling, the scaffold off-center in the plaza?

All I know is that I don't understand Ahrt, I need the Ahrtist to explain, and sometimes the Ahrtist has no explanation.

Someone give me a math problem, this dunce cap is squeezing the left side of my head and I'd like to take it off.

*Copied from karen's shelf name. ...more

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Dec 07, 2012 notgettingenough rated it did not like it

Shelves: russian, modern-lit, will-be-regretted-on-my-deathbed

Fifty pages in, I feel like I've given this a good shake and I can move on. You have to care about something when you read a book: the story, a character, maybe even the technique. Something, at any rate. Nothing comes to mind for this one. While Nabokov stated in an interview that of all his novels he held the greatest affection for Lolita, it was Invitation to a Beheading that he held in the greatest esteem, he said at the same time:

My advice to a budding literary critic would be as follows.

...more

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Mar 11, 2018 Edward rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2018, literary-fiction

I find it difficult to believe Nabokov when in the preface to Invitation to a Beheading he insists that he had no knowledge of Kafka when he wrote this book. This novel echoes The Trial in its plot and themes, not to mention the similarity in the protagonists names. Even the opening sentence appears to be a kind of homage; compare:

"Someone must have been spreading slander about Josef K., for one morning he was arrested, though he had done nothing wrong."
- Kafka, The Trial.

"In accordance with th

"Someone must have been spreading slander about Josef K., for one morning he was arrested, though he had done nothing wrong."
- Kafka, The Trial.

"In accordance with the law the death sentence was announced to Cincinnatus C. in a whisper."
- Nabokov, Invitation to a Beheading

Come on, Vladimir, who are you trying to fool? But though these similarities do invite comparison, I can understand his frustration at the facile, reductionist use of the “Kafkaesque” label, as simply equating the two novels would be a mistake: Invitation to a Beheading is a very different novel to The Trial. It is a better novel, in my opinion (though I am a noted detractor of Kafka’s). To begin with, Nabokov’s prose is much more enjoyable to read, and the surreal and absurd elements are more imaginative, and more entertaining. Above all, Invitation to a Beheading continues to develop its ideas as it progresses, rather than simply locking itself and the reader in a cycle of repeated frustration for one hundred and fifty pages. Nabokov’s novel also deals heavily with frustration, but his meaning and implication is more broad than Kafka’s. Invitation to a Beheading is not about the restrictions imposed by the state, but those which we internalise and accept within our own lives. We are all in fact sentenced to live this absurd life, awaiting our own execution, and it is up to us to recognise our jailers.

I’m gradually coming back around to Nabokov, after the lingering disappointment of Bend Sinister, which I read almost two years ago. But in terms of quality, Invitation to a Beheading is certainly closer to Pnin and Pale Fire, than it is to that book. One of his best, I think. ...more

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Oct 14, 2012 Darwin8u rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2012

“...All my best words are deserters and do not answer the trumpet call, and the remainder are cripples.”
― Vladimir Nabokov, Invitation to a Beheading

description

Nabokov's violin playing in the void of a totalitarian nightmare. Invitation to a Beheading belongs among those 20th Century novels by Orwell, Huxley, Kafka and Koestler that explore the individual revolting against an absurd totalitarianism. Cincinnatus C is an opaque prisoner being punished by a translucent society for his gnostical turpitude. Wi ...more

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May 04, 2015 David Lentz rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

It would seem that Nabokov entertains the idea that we live under a death sentence, which may be carried out at anytime with or without just cause by forces greater than we are as individuals with our limited scope of power and influence. The book is absurd, of course, in the true sense of the word insofar as it portrays life as essentially beyond our understanding except within the limited sensory confines of everyday life. It is a PoMo classic in the treatment of its themes and Nabokov transpo It would seem that Nabokov entertains the idea that we live under a death sentence, which may be carried out at anytime with or without just cause by forces greater than we are as individuals with our limited scope of power and influence. The book is absurd, of course, in the true sense of the word insofar as it portrays life as essentially beyond our understanding except within the limited sensory confines of everyday life. It is a PoMo classic in the treatment of its themes and Nabokov transports his readers into a dreamlike existence. Cincinnatus would be quite at home with Joseph K. from Kafka and the cast from Beckett. That is, he is a victim of his own inability to understand his life and is trapped in a world far too vast to comprehend with pure reason alone. Yet within the dream state a certain logic prevails in the discourse which lends an air of credibility to the tale: we believe that in some totalitarian state the fate of Cincinnatus is all too real and was in fact inspired by the megalomania of tyrants past in Nabokov's native Russia and elsewhere. He brings to light the shadows of all the Angst of a convict on death row with his unbelief about his circumstances, his regrets for past lapses and failures, false hope of rescue, fear of the final indignity and pain. Yet Cincinnatus ascends the scaffold determined to face his end "By myself" and his redemption seems to be the victory of his will in the final pages of the novel. The engaging style of Nabokov is well worth noting: he is vivid, intelligent, original and credible as a narrator. Like Dostoyevsky in "The Idiot" he stays out of the way of his protagonist insofar as we experience his fate through his eyes. But his fellow characters shape the story line substantially with their own dialogue and actions driven by credible, all-too-human motives. At times, Cincinnatus is simply a silent witness, a felon consumed by dread after his conviction of "agnostic turpitude" of which he barely denies and as an Everyman must certainly be guilty even insofar as it will be the end of him. Nabokov peppers his narrative with nuance and his vision focuses upon a sensual reality which is both compelling and engaging: he really knows how to draw you into this dreamlike tale about the absurdity of life. By now, many of his themes from this novel may seem almost quaint within the PoMo catalogue but he was a force in defining a movement by virtue of the simplicity and power of his narrative gifts. My respect for Nabokov has gone up a notch or two after reading this brief book. Although some may not find satisfaction in the close of this tale, it is well worth reading. ...more

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Nov 28, 2016 Bahar Mir rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: to-re-read, favorites

As I finished the last page of this book, having misty eyes I remembered the foreword of the book.Dear Nabokov I was among the readers who ruffled their hair, who have had been sent into abstract prisons for gnostical turpitude...I too have dreamed of another world, which was full of colors, a world that was more true, more alive...I too have wanted to take off my head like a toupee and then my collarbones like shoulder straps and then my rib cage as a hauberk and then my hips, my legs and my ar ...more

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Nov 07, 2012 Stela rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Recommends it for: all my friends

Shelves: magic-realism, dystopia, reviews, novel-of-ideas

The Light at the End of the Cave

I can understand why Nabokov was accused of plagiarism when Invitation to a Beheading was first published. At a first view and a very shallow first reading (or, let’s not be mean and say a first level reading) it is indeed weirdly similar to The Trial either in the plot construction, the main character attitude and the theme.

However there are so many major differences that save the book from being somehow a sequel of Kafka’s novel and put it on the general shelf ...more

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Nov 29, 2008 Manny rated it liked it

I see that the review on the GR home page for Invitation to a Beheading compares it to Kafka. It's clear that Nabokov heard this rather more frequently than he wanted to, and was very tired of it. In the foreword to my edition, he has the following comment:

"Emigré reviewers, who were puzzled but liked it, thought they distinguished in it a "Kafkaesque" strain, not knowing that I had no German, was completely ignorant of modern German literature, and had not yet read any French or English transla ...more

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Jul 20, 2017 Pavle rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: tzv-ostalo-tzv-ozbiljno, probrana-družina

Nabokov je gde književnost počinje i gde se književnost završava. Takav je i ovaj roman.

Istovremeno i bdenje nad ljudskom smrtnošću, i kritika društva, i meditacija gnosticizma, i aluzija na Sokrata, i divna pesma, i tragikomična predstava, i niz raspletenih, rascvetanih snova jedne lutalice, jednog otudjenika. Sve se može naći. Igra se Nabokov, kako samo on ume, i sa rečima i sa likovima, pa i sa mnom, jer ako nešto mrzim to je izvikanost-to-jest-prepotentnost, a Sinsinatus (kao i sam Nabokov) ...more

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Sep 26, 2010 Capsguy rated it really liked it

Shelves: russian

This was great, I love Nabokov when he`s not being so pompous in his prose.

But if I hear one more person label this as `Kafkaesque` I`ll smack them good!

Believe it or not, but generally I am not a fan of the absurd, but I loved the absurdity and helplessness in this novel. Imagine being condemned to death for an undefinable crime and not being told when it is that you will be executed(in Japan apparently pretty much no one knows when someone on death row dies until the actual day, yikes!) and ha ...more

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Jul 31, 2018 Merphy Napier rated it it was ok

Shelves: two-stars, classics

Because I'm behind on reviews, I'm just going to link this months classics wrap up https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJKAH...

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Oct 21, 2015 Vishnu rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites

I feel like I'm cheating Nabokov when I say I've read this book because with a book like the one here, it is an unending experience. One doesn't simply read and move past it but instead is invited by the text to re-read again and again, each time displaying a different layer, which like an onion's, is peeled off by each reading to reveal newer ones still.

Nabokov here plays jump rope with modernist and post-modernist tendencies. at one moment he is sad, at the other mad. While in places he wants ...more

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Dec 06, 2007 Allie rated it really liked it

Recommends it for: Gen-X-ers, postmoderns

Shelves: classics, melancholy

I saw this book as a story about relationships. Cincinnatus is a prisoner for an absurd crime of personality, and his executioner cares for him and dotes on him, completely ignorant of any reason why the spitful Cincinnatus should dislike him. It teaches us about ourselves, and about the blurring of lines in our love relationships.

Sometimes, those who love us most, are the ones that imprison us or act as our executioners. Yet they love us, nonetheless. We think that those who love us will never ...more

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Feb 10, 2018 Mohamad Yoosofi rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: داستان

سینسیناتوس را بهجرمی نامعلوم در زندانی تاریک و نمور و خوفناک حبس کردهاند و حکمش اعدام است؛ اعدام ازطریق گردنزدن. وی بهطرزی غریب، تنها و تکافتاده و مطرود است. حتی نزدیکترین کسانش چنانکه باید، به او نزدیک نیستند؛ ازجمله مادر و همسرش. در ملاقات کوتاهی که با مادرش میکند، مشخص میشود که او حاصل رابطهای نامشروع است و حتی معلوم نیست پدرش کیست. مادر دربرابر محکومیتِ فرزندش به اعدام، سرد و بیعاطفه است. گریهوُزاری نمیکند. ازطرف دیگر، سینسیناتوس همسری دارد که یگانه انگیزه و دلمشغولیِ او در زندان است؛ همسری سین‌سیناتوس را به‌جرمی نامعلوم در زندانی تاریک و نمور و خوفناک حبس کرده‌اند و حکمش اعدام است؛ اعدام ازطریق گردن‌زدن. وی به‌طرزی غریب، تنها و تک‌افتاده و مطرود است. حتی نزدیک‌ترین کسانش چنان‌که باید، به او نزدیک نیستند؛ ازجمله مادر و همسرش. در ملاقات کوتاهی که با مادرش می‌کند، مشخص می‌شود که او حاصل رابطه‌ای نامشروع است و حتی معلوم نیست پدرش کیست. مادر دربرابر محکومیتِ فرزندش به اعدام، سرد و بی‌عاطفه است. گریه‌وُزاری نمی‌کند. ازطرف دیگر، سین‌سیناتوس همسری دارد که یگانه انگیزه و دل‌مشغولیِ او در زندان است؛ همسری که ذره‌ای در حق او نیکی نکرده و دائماً به او خیانت ورزیده است. این خیانت‌ها چنان‌که در طول داستان مشخص می‌شود، از همان اول‌های آشنایی‌شان آغاز می‌شود و رفته‌رفته حالتی علنی و بی‌شرمانه می‌یابد؛ تا جایی که زن در حضورِ سین‌سیناتوس با معشوق‌های مختلف گرمِ رابطه می‌شود و حتی با آن‌ها به رختخواب می‌رود. حاصل این هرزه‌کاری‌ها هم دو فرزند است که پیدا نیست پدرشان کیست. با همۀ این‌ها، یگانه پیوندی که سین‌سیناتوسِ عجیب‌وغریب با این دنیا دارد، به‌شکلی غریب برمی‌گردد به این زنِ بی‌مهر و خیانت‌پیشه.

سوای تیره‌روزی‌های متنوعی که سین‌سیناتوس با آن‌ها دست‌به‌گریبان است، موضوع محوری روایت، دلهرۀ مرگ است و زجری که شخصیت اصلی داستان به‌واسطۀ نامعلوم‌بودن زمانِ آن می‌کشد. به‌بیان دیگر، پس از اینکه حکم اعدام را اعلام می‌کنند و سین‌سیناتوس درمی‌یابد که مردنش قطعی است، به هر نحوی و با هر ترفندی می‌کوشد از زمان دقیق این رویداد ناگزیر اطلاع یابد. برای این منظور، از نگهبان و دربان و وکیل و رئیس زندان مدد می‌جوید؛ اما هیچ‌کس پاسخ‌گوی او نیست. هرکس به‌طریقی از جواب‌دادن طفره می‌رود. رفتار کلی اهالی زندان نیز سخت آزارنده است. ایشان نه‌تنها به درخواست سین‌سیناتوس برای اعلامِ روزِ مرگ اعتنایی نمی‌کنند، بلکه او را به بازی می‌گیرند و به این طریق، زجرش را دوچندان می‌کنند. کسی را به‌اسم زندانی به سلولش می‌فرستند تا کمی با او گرم بگیرد و رفاقتی بینشان ایجاد شود. یکی‌دو بار هم ازطریق این همبند، وعدۀ آزادی به او می‌دهند و در فکر و خیالی باطل غرقش می‌کنند؛ اما چندی که می‌گذرد، معلوم می‌شود که وعده‌ها توخالی بوده و آن‌که خود را رفیق جا زده، جلادی است که قرار است گردنش را بزند و جانش را بستاند. به‌این‌ترتیب، کمابیش همۀ امیدهای سین‌سیناتوس نقش‌برآب می‌شود. اما این نیز پایان شکنجه‌ها نیست. کارکنان زندان، روزی را برای اجرای گردن‌زنی به وی اعلام می‌کنند و سین‌سیناتوس به‌ظاهر به خواسته‌اش می‌رسد. خود را برای مردن مهیا می‌کند و چند روزی را با هذیان و کابوس و دل‌آشوبی می‌گذراند. باوجوداین، در این وعدۀ تلخ نیز بی‌وفایی می‌کنند. مراسمِ اعدام آن روز با بهانه‌های بی‌اساس لغو می‌شود. سین‌سیناتوس باز به دامنِ اضطراب می‌غلتد و کمی بعد که گمان می‌برد دیگر تا مدت زیادی اعدامش نخواهند کرد، غافل‌گیرانه و بی‌خبر به‌سراغش می‌آیند و او را می‌برند و گردنش را می‌زنند.

عده‌ای این رمان را نمادین دانسته و گفته‌اند که در اعتراض به جامعۀ تمامیت‌خواه نوشته شده است؛ جامعه‌ای که می‌خواهد یکایک اعضایش را هم‌شکل و همسو کند و تفاوت‌ها و خواسته‌های فردی را به رسمیت نشناسد. بااین‌همه، من این تفسیر را چندان دقیق و درست نمی‌دانم. به‌گمان من، اندیشۀ اصلی این داستان عبارت است از مرگ و نامعلوم‌بودن زمان آن و هول‌وهراسی که آدمی از این بابت دستخوش آن است. بیچارگی انسان در مواجهه با این پدیده و نیز ناگواری‌های زندگی این‌جهانی و رنجِ زیستن با اشخاصِ نادل‌پسند در این اثر به‌خوبی تصویر شده است. به‌علاوه، نکتۀ درخورتأملی که از رفتارهای سین‌سیناتوس در این داستان دانسته می‌شود، این است که دل‌کندن از زندگی، هرچند ناخوشایند و رنجش‌زا باشد، چقدر دردناک و دشوار است.

داستان درون‌مایه‌ای جذاب دارد؛ ولی نوع پرداختش با سیرِ کُند و بی‌کشش روایت، هیچ جذاب نیست. ترجمۀ کمابیش ناهموار نیز به این امر دامن زده است. به‌عبارت دیگر، داستان هم ازنظر روایی اشکالاتی دارد و هم ازنظر ترجمه‌ای و زبانی. این دو اشکال برروی‌هم به دشوارخوان‌شدن اثر انجامیده است.

نکتۀ دیگری که اشاره به آن خالی‌ازفایده نیست، شباهتی است که فضای تلخ و کابوس‌وار این داستان با دو اثر دارد: یکی «بیگانۀ» آلبر کامو و دیگری «مسخِ» فرانتس کافکا. ازسویی، تک‌افتادگی شخصیت اصلی در محیطی دربسته با عنکبوتی در گوشۀ اتاق، تااندازه‌ای فضایی کافکایی را به ذهن می‌آورد و ازسوی دیگر، اندیشۀ مرگ و محکومیت به اعدام، یادآورِ قهرمان رمان کامو است. از این منظر، جا دارد بررسی‌ای مقایسه‌ای میان این داستان‌ها صورت بگیرد.

بخش‌هایی خواندنی از داستان:

ـ برای محکوم به مرگ، ازیادبردن زن، جسم لذیذِ زن، از هر وقتی مشکل‌تر است. (۱۴۱)

ـ [...] می‌دانم که مرگ درواقع اصلاً وحشتناک نیست. تشنجی بی‌خطر است. شاید برای روح، مقوی سلامت‌بخش هم باشد؛ شیون خفقان‌آور نوزادی یا خودداری خشمگینانه‌ای از تحویل‌دادن یک اسباب‌بازی. و زمانی در مغازه‌هایی [...] فرزانه‌هایی می‌زیستند که از فرارسیدن مرگ خوش‌حالی می‌کردند و آن‌ها (راست است که در اکثر موارد دست‌وپاچلفتی بوده‌اند) باوجوداین، به‌شیوۀ خاص خود، مسلط و چیره شدند. و من گرچه تمام این‌ها را می‌دانم و بزرگ‌ترین چیزی را می‌دانم که هیچ‌کس در اینجا نمی‌داند، باوجوداین، ببینید ای آدمک‌ها که من چقدر می‌ترسم؛ چطور همه‌چیز در جانم می‌لرزد و می‌خروشد و هجوم می‌آورد... و همین الان برای بردنم خواهند آمد و من آماده نیستم. شرمنده ام... (۱۸۲)

کتابنامه: دعوت به مراسم گردن‌زنی، ولادیمیر ناباکف، ترجمۀ احمد خزاغی، چ۱، تهران: قطره، ۱۳۷۰.

...more

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Apr 23, 2011 MJ Nicholls rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: novels, borscht-and-kvass, penguin-classics

It’s The House of the Dead meets Monty Python’s blacker moments. Nabokov wrote this in a fortnight, and although wired to his usual stylistic and linguistic arrogance, the story meanders in the way an undisciplined half-dream half-real semi-surrealist novel might. It's not quite Dostoevsky, not quite Gogol either.

I also began to mix up Cincinnatus with Ignatius J. Reilly from A Confederacy of Dunces, which wasn’t wholly random, as the novels aren’t too far off in terms of their dark humour. This ...more

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Jun 03, 2007 Miriam rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: summer2007

This was the first Nabokov novel I read, and I highly recommend it as an introduction. Although not as iconic as Lolita or as out-and-out brilliant as Pale Fire, this book both draws you in and keeps you at a distance, allowing you into its world but not inside the main character's head-- at least, not as much as his later works. Significantly, this is one of Nabokov's few novels (are there any other than this one?) that is not narrated in the first person. If prolonged, thoughtful imagery and t ...more

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Sep 06, 2014 David rated it really liked it

Shelves: russian-literature

I would compare reading this book to analyzing a surrealist painting; in that there can be many possible explanations for what is going on in the painting (or novel), the motives behind the painting (or novel), and what there is to be learned, if indeed there is anything to be learned.

Cincinnatus, the protagonist, is convicted of a nebulous crime, for which the penalty is death, but at an unknown date. Is Cincinnatus dreaming? Has he hallucinated the entire affair? There is certainly an element I would compare reading this book to analyzing a surrealist painting; in that there can be many possible explanations for what is going on in the painting (or novel), the motives behind the painting (or novel), and what there is to be learned, if indeed there is anything to be learned.

Cincinnatus, the protagonist, is convicted of a nebulous crime, for which the penalty is death, but at an unknown date. Is Cincinnatus dreaming? Has he hallucinated the entire affair? There is certainly an element of the absurd in the novel, and I must in some ways compare it to The Trial. But whereas the trial, and Kafka, focus on the absurdity of attempting to change your fate while stoically moving forward, Nabokov's novel reads more like a fever-dream.

Time seems to pass in the novel, but not in conventional methods. Certainly, days pass, but the real locomotive of time, the date of his beheading, is alluded to by subtler means, the insects in his room being devoured by the spider, culminating in the beautiful moth, the length of Cincinnatus' pencil, and the amount of paper he has left to write upon.

Time also passes nearer to his beheading by the increasing psychological tortures he endures; they become more acute as his end nears. It reminded me of the torture of Tantalus, where both food and drink seem to be within reach, but elude him when he reached for them. This happened to Cincinnatus when each time the hope of escape, hope, or epiphany dangled before him before being dashed into despair.

What was Cincinnatus' crime? In my estimation, if the whole scenario were not a hallucination or dream, it would be being unable or unwilling to fit into society.

The ending made me question whether the prison, the crime, the sentence, and even the characters were real. The fortress begins to collapse and turn into a labyrinth, Cincinnatus realizes the absurdity of his situation, refuses to accept it, and walk away as the world he was trapped in shrinks, fades away, and vanishes, as he travels towards voices he imagines to be like-minded with himself. Can an ending be more surreal than that? I don't know if I have read one at this point in my life.

I'm sure there was much more nuance and imagery in this book I failed to pick up on or don't feel I have the time or energy to address, such as the absurdity of the executioner getting to know, and purportedly love, the one he is going to execute. Perhaps Nabokov was alluding to the fact that being the object of someone's affection can itself be a prison? I don't feel I have the authority to say. In any case, the book is very thought provoking.

4/5 ...more

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Oct 30, 2018 Pedro Varanda rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Livro pouco inspirado daquele que na minha opinião foi um dos grandes de todos os tempos.

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Apr 08, 2018 Vittorio Ducoli rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Distopie a confronto: Nabokov versus Kafka

Il lettore di Invito a una decapitazione, romanzo scritto da Vladimir Nabokov nel 1934, è subito portato a scorgervi chiari rimandi ai due principali romanzi di Franz Kafka, Il processo e Il castello, entrambi editi una decina di anni prima. Troppo evidenti appaiono alcune analogie tra il romanzo di Nabokov e le opere kafkiane: dall'ambientazione – una impenetrabile fortezza alta su una collina, isolata dalla città, simbolo di un potere oscuro e crudele ...more

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Oct 27, 2018 Shiva rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

يك نظر ساده بر كتابي عجيب و پُر رمز و راز:

شاهكار بود...فضاي كمپليكه و وهم آلودي كه در اين كتاب خلق شده، كم نظيره...
با خوندن اين كتاب دنبال حل پيچيدگيها و ابهامات متن نريد. بخونيد، فكر كنيد، تصور كنيد، مثل من فيلمش رو هم بديد يه كارگردان روس (ترجيحاً تاركوفسكي فقيد) بسازه و ببينيد!!
زندگيِ سين سيناتوس زندگيِ همه ي ماست...

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Apr 30, 2013 Michael rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 1930s, classics, classics-club, eastern-european-literature, translated-fiction

In this bizarre and irrational world, Cincinnatus has been convicted and condemned to death by beheading for gnostical turpitude, an imaginary crime with no definition. Cincinnatus spends his remaining days in prison where he is visited by the chimerical jailers, an executioner who masquerades as a prisoner, and his in-laws. When Cincinnatus is finally brought out to be executed, he simply wills his executioners out of existence: they disappear, along with the whole world they inhabit.

There is n In this bizarre and irrational world, Cincinnatus has been convicted and condemned to death by beheading for gnostical turpitude, an imaginary crime with no definition. Cincinnatus spends his remaining days in prison where he is visited by the chimerical jailers, an executioner who masquerades as a prisoner, and his in-laws. When Cincinnatus is finally brought out to be executed, he simply wills his executioners out of existence: they disappear, along with the whole world they inhabit.

There is no denying that Invitation to a Beheading is a weird novel; often compared with Franz Kafka’s The Castle, it is important to know that Vladimir Nabokov had not read any German novels, let alone Kafka when writing this. The reason this is important is to avoid trying to compare the two novels; sure they have similarities but they are still also vastly different. Originally published as a serial, with the title Sovremennye Zapiski (Contemporary Notes), Nabokov has stated while Lolita holds his greatest affection, this novel holds his greatest esteem.

While people call this Kafkaesque, the impossible and dreamlike world reminds me more of Haruki Murakami’s style. From the very start the reader understands there is something not right about this world, this reminded me of Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World. I got the feeling that this wasn’t reality but a world constructed in Cincinnatus’ mind based on his fears, doubts, and insecurities. Cincinnatus’ enemy is the society he’s created and the people of that society act according to ridiculous rules that have been set. We never know what gnostical turpitude is and this will probably remind people of Kafka’s The Trial. Cincinnatus is rebelling against the construction of this reality and the rules the people of this society observe and perhaps this is what makes him a criminal.

Maybe gnostical turpitude is the crime of being different from all the other people in this reality. Maybe Cincinnatus is being oppress for his ideas and his nature. Maybe he is so different from everyone around him; he has an internal depth that the others lack. A lot like Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov has a way about his writing that just leaves you with so many questions that you need to think through, this whole reality and society leaves me perplexed. Though this is the point; life isn’t simple and being an outsider sometimes feels like you are Cincinnatus in a bizarre reality.

While this book primarily looks at society and oppression it also looks at human connection. Cincinnatus desires to connect with his wife Marthe, despite her unfaithfulness and lack of concern for him. The one thing he craves the most is to make a connection and she felt like the logical choice; also the fact that he loved her helped. He begs her to come alone and reveal her true self to him but there is always something that interferes with the communicating.

While this was a very odd book, Vladimir Nabokov is just a brilliant writer and that really makes up for the weirdness. Also the weird and bizarre act as motifs within the narrative and without the symbolism and meaning it would just be trippy book. Nabokov does a good job of weaving his messages and ideas while entertaining the reader in unexpected ways. Most people only ever read Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov and I think that means they miss out on his brilliance, I hope to read more; currently on my To Be Read list is Mary, Pnin and Pale Fire. Are there any others I should add?

This review originally appeared on my blog; http://literary-exploration.com/2013/... ...more

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Discuss This Book

topics	posts	views	last activity
Brain Pain: Discussion - Week Two - Invitation to a Beheading - Chapter 10 - 20	7	38	Nov 02, 2013 02:07PM
Brain Pain: Discussion - Week One - Invitation to a Beheading - Chapter 1 - 9	5	54	Jul 19, 2013 06:47AM
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About Vladimir Nabokov

Vladimir Nabokov

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Russian: Владимир Владимирович Набоков .

Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov, also known by the pen name Vladimir Sirin, was a Russian-American novelist. Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Russian, then rose to international prominence as a master English prose stylist. He also made significant contributions to lepidoptery, and had a big interest in chess problems.

Nabokov's Lolita (1955) is frequen ...more