"Nabokov writes prose the only way it should be written, that is, ecstatically." -- John Updike
The Real Life of Sebastian Knight is a perversely magical literary detective story -- subtle, intricate, leading to a tantalizing climax -- about the mysterious life of a famous writer. Many people knew things about Sebastian Knight as a distinguished novelist, but probably fewer tha...
"Nabokov writes prose the only way it should be written, that is, ecstatically." -- John Updike
The Real Life of Sebastian Knight is a perversely magical literary detective story -- subtle, intricate, leading to a tantalizing climax -- about the mysterious life of a famous writer. Many people knew things about Sebastian Knight as a distinguished novelist, but probably fewer than a dozen knew of the two love affairs that so profoundly influenced his career, the second one in such a disastrous way. After Knight's death, his half brother sets out to penetrate the enigma of his life, starting with a few scanty clues in the novelist's private papers. His search proves to be a story as intriguing as any of his subject's own novels, as baffling, and, in the end, as uniquely rewarding.
Vladimir Nabokov was born on April 23, 1899, in St. Petersburg, Russia. The Nabokovs were known for their high culture and commitment to public service, and the elder Nabokov was an outspoken opponent of anti-Semitism and one of the leaders of the opposition party, the Kadets. In 1919, following the Bolshevik Revolution, he took his family into exile. Four years later he was sh...
Vladimir Nabokov was born on April 23, 1899, in St. Petersburg, Russia. The Nabokovs were known for their high culture and commitment to public service, and the elder Nabokov was an outspoken opponent of anti-Semitism and one of the leaders of the opposition party, the Kadets. In 1919, following the Bolshevik Revolution, he took his family into exile. Four years later he was shot and killed at a political rally in Berlin while trying to shield the speaker from right-wing assassins. The Nabokov household was trilingual, and as a child Nabokov was already reading Wells, Poe, Browning, Keats, Flaubert, Verlaine, Rimbaud, Tolstoy, and Chekhov alongside the popular entertainments of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Jules Verne. As a young man, he studied Slavic and romance languages at Trinity College, Cambridge, taking his honors degree in 1922. For the next 18 years he lived in Berlin and Paris, writing prolifically in Russian under the pseudonym "Sirin" and supporting himself through translations, lessons in English and tennis, and by composing the first crossword puzzles in Russian. In 1925, he married Vera Slonim, with whom he had one child, a son, Dmitri. Having already fled Russia and Germany, Nabokov became a refugee once more in 1940, when he was forced to leave France for the United States. There he taught at Wellesley, Harvard, and Cornell. He also gave up writing in Russian and began composing fiction in English. His most notable works include Bend Sinister (1947), Lolita (1955), Pnin (1957), and Pale Fire (1962), as well as the translation of his earlier Russian novels into English. He also undertook English translations of works by Lermontov and Pushkin and wrote several books of criticism. Vladimir Nabokov died in Montreux, Switzerland, in 1977.
Most people live through the day with this or that part of their mind in a happy state of somnolence: a hungry man eating a steak is interested in his food and not, say, in the memory of a dream about angels wearing top-hats which he happened to see seven years ago; but in my case all the shutters and lids and doors of my mind would be open at once at all times of the day. Most brains have their Sundays, mine was even refused a half-holiday. This state of constant wakefulness was extremely painful not only in itself, but in its direct results. Every ordinary act which, as a matter of course, I had to perform, took on such a complicated appearance, provoked such a multitude of associative ideas in my mind, and these associations were so tricky and obscure, so utterly useless for practical a... (查看原文)
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弗拉基米尔·纳博科夫 作者
译起读书-Young
上海译文出版社2021版
赵松
上海译文出版社2010版
0 有用 country bread 2020-03-23 06:39:00
but those few minutes I spent listening to what I thought was his breathing —
0 有用 Wald 2016-12-01 08:08:17
Technically the first Nabokov ever read and studied. Beautiful cross-reference
0 有用 Daisy 2019-11-14 14:42:39
Boy o boy, I could've bursted into tears! (2018)
0 有用 Heidyroyal Tea 2013-11-25 11:49:05
结尾好美！
0 有用 黄小米 2016-05-20 04:37:10
想了解一个人于是变成了他。俄国上流社会的子弟二十世纪过得也是英风美雨，散落在欧洲大陆。最后要在英语世界获得名声，现在似乎也是一样。
0 有用 faustparody 2024-02-09 15:48:46 浙江
用第一人称叙述的纳纳真是魅力无限
0 有用 ~Joe~ 2023-10-11 23:50:30 中国香港
Please keep your bullshitting for ever and ever and ever and ever
0 有用 笑笑遙遙 2023-08-09 13:39:09 美国
3.5 还好吧，还是挺吸引人读下去，文体也蛮有意思。知名俄裔英语作家的弟弟为了写传记而找寻病逝哥哥生前秘密的仿悬疑。小说有关于移居英国的俄裔对母语母国和身份认同的感受，作家红颜知己和秘密情人就像是作家个性中隐藏的两个碎片，弟弟一直想找寻在哥哥生前他没能了解的那些片段以拼凑出完整的生活，可是终究是遗憾。其实即使是自己，又是否真的能完整地了解自己的人生呢？结尾高潮也是反高潮，但大部分人的人生都如此，总... 3.5 还好吧，还是挺吸引人读下去，文体也蛮有意思。知名俄裔英语作家的弟弟为了写传记而找寻病逝哥哥生前秘密的仿悬疑。小说有关于移居英国的俄裔对母语母国和身份认同的感受，作家红颜知己和秘密情人就像是作家个性中隐藏的两个碎片，弟弟一直想找寻在哥哥生前他没能了解的那些片段以拼凑出完整的生活，可是终究是遗憾。其实即使是自己，又是否真的能完整地了解自己的人生呢？结尾高潮也是反高潮，但大部分人的人生都如此，总有遗憾，总有无解之谜。可以看到小说结构语言的好，也有吸引人的段落，可是象读的上一本《普宁》，纳博科夫的小说于我总是有一种感情上的距离感，作者仿佛总站在一旁不愿靠近，我只是读别人的故事，难以投入其中。也许这就是他，象Sebastian Knight, 总是保留着自己隐秘的一面。 (展开)
0 有用 Loro 2022-06-25 15:09:08
侦探小说，另一种形式的The Prismatic Bezel, Knight身前事就是巨大boarding house, 所有人的联结供迟来的侦探/传记作者查实。Chapter 20, 终结的感觉。不知道Julian Barnes是否读过，写了《福楼拜的鹦鹉》。
0 有用 Melilac 2021-06-30 02:48:25
总感觉是他在写自己