Lectures on Russian Literature

In the lecture courses prepared in the 1940s-1950s for students at Wellesley College and Cornell University, first published in 1981, the greatest Russian-American writer of the 20th century, Vladimir Nabokov, presented himself to his audience as a thoughtful reader, perceptive,... meticulous, and at the same time quite biased researcher, a temperamental and demanding teacher. On the pages of this volume, Nabokov the lecturer provides an excellent lesson on "close reading" of the works of Gogol, Turgenev, Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Chekhov, and Gorky – a reading method that the author describes comprehensively: "Literature, real literature, should not be gulped down in one go like a remedy useful for the heart or mind, this 'stomach' of the soul. Literature should be taken in small doses, crushed, ground – then you will feel its sweet fragrance in the depths of your palms; it needs to be gnawed, enjoyed rolling it around in the mouth – then, and only then will you truly appreciate its rare aroma, and the crumbled, ground particles will reunite in your consciousness and acquire the beauty of a whole, to which you have added a touch of your own blood."