Poems 1918-1947. The Lament of Superman

This collection of poems by Vladimir Nabokov 1899–1977 includes both well-known and previously unpublished works written in Europe and America between 1918 and 1947. Recently decoded and newly found in the writer's archive, the poems, including The Legend of the Moon 1920, Electricity 1920, In the Wild North 1920, Olympicum 1921, significantly enrich the Russian part of his bilingual poetic heritage and reveal unknown aspects of his creative development. In the poetry of the famous author of Lolita and Ada, one can find the roots and prerequisites for the peculiarities of his prose: subtle psychological insight, vivid imagery in descriptions, precise observations, a special mirror-like quality of style, and a combination of fiction with autobiography. For the first time, the poems Two 1919, The Legend of the Moon, Electricity, In the Wild North are published; the text of one of Nabokov's most significant early poems, Sunny Dream 1923, has been revised against the manuscript. The Appendix includes another recent archival find, The Lament of Superman 1942, — an original Nabokovian interpretation of the image of the hero from American comics. The edition is accompanied by commentaries and illustrative materials.