Pnin

One of the best-loved of Nabokov’s novels, Pnin features his funniest and most heart-rending character. Serialized in The New Yorker and published in book form in 1957, Pnin brought Nabokov both his first National Book Award nomination and hitherto unprecedented popularity. “Fun and satire are just the beginning of the rewards of this novel. Generous, bewildered Pnin, that most kindly and impractical of men, wins our affection and respect.” —Chicago Tribune Professor Timofey Pnin is a haplessly disoriented Russian émigré precariously employed on an American college campus in the 1950s. Pnin struggles to maintain his dignity through a series of comic and sad misunder-standings, all the while falling victim both to subtle academic conspiracies and to the manipulations of a deliberately unreliable narrator. Initially an almost grotesquely comic figure, Pnin gradually grows in stature by contrast with those who laugh at him. Whether taking the wrong train to deliver a lecture in a language he has not mastered or throwing a faculty party during which he learns he is losing his job, the gently preposterous hero of this enchanting novel evokes the reader’s deepest protective instinct.

This nicely illustrated reference for junior high and high school students offers 20-page profiles of 93 of the world's most influential writers of the twentieth century. Arranged alphabetically, each profile provides facts about the writer's life and works as well as a commentary on his or her significance, discussion of political and social events that occurred during his or her lifetime, a reader's guide to major works, and events, beliefs or traditions that inspired the writer's works.

Unlock the more straightforward side of Pnin with this concise and insightful summary and analysis! This engaging summary presents an analysis of Pnin by Vladimir Nabokov. The novel’s titular character is Professor Timofey Pnin, a Russian émigré who teaches Russian language and literature at the fictional Waindell College in the USA. He is frequently bewildered by the unfamiliar language and customs of his adopted country, is a perennial outsider at the college, and often finds himself troubled by the dark episodes of his past. The novel showcases the linguistic inventiveness for which Nabokov is known, and is a comical but poignant exploration of exile and outsiderdom. It was Nabokov’s fourth English-language novel, and helped to cement his reputation as one of the most important and innovative writers of the 20th century. Find out everything you need to know about Pnin in a fraction of the time! This in-depth and informative reading guide brings you: • A complete plot summary • Character studies • Key themes and symbols • Questions for further reflection Why choose BrightSummaries.com? Available in print and digital format, our publications are designed to accompany you on your reading journey. The clear and concise style makes for easy understanding, providing the perfect opportunity to improve your literary knowledge in no time. See the very best of literature in a whole new light with BrightSummaries.com!

In this wry, judiciously balanced, and thoroughly engaging book, Galya Diment explores the complicated and fascinating relationship between Vladimir Nabokov and his Cornell colleague Marc Szeftel who, in the estimate of many, served as the prototype for the gentle protagonist of the novel Pnin. She offers astute comments on Nabokov�s fictional process in creating Timogey Pnin and addresses hotly debated questions and long-standing riddles in Pnin and its history. Between the two of them, Nabokov and Szeftel embodied much of the complexity and variety of the Russian postrevolution emigre experience in Europe and the United States. Drawing on previously unpublished letters and diaries as well as on interview with family, friends, and collegues, Diment illuminates a fascinating cultural terrain. Pniniad--the epic of Pnin--begins with Szeftel�s early life in Russia and ends with his years in Seattle at the University of Washington, turning pivotally upon the time in Szeftel�s and Nabokov�s lives intersected at Cornell. Nabokov apparantly was both amused by and admiring of the innocence of his historian friend. Szeftel�s feelings towards Nabokov were also mixed, raning from intense disappointment over rebuffed attempts to collaborate with Nabokov to persistent envy of Nabokov�s success and an increasing wistfulness over his own sense of failure.

The story of Nabokov's life continues with his arrival in the United States in 1940. He found that supporting himself and his family was not easy--until the astonishing success of Lolita catapulted him to world fame and financial security.

"In each chapter Toker carefully reconstructs a novel for us those are not mere plot summaries, but mature products of several re-readings and proceeds to make her way through the novel's numerous patterns, images, themes and motifs in an attempt to..."

One of the great observers of Australian life, Henry Lawson looms large in our national psyche. Yet at his best Lawson transcends the very bush, the very outback, the very up-country, the very pub or selector's hut he conveys with such brevity and acuity: he make specific places universal. Henry Lawson is too often regarded as a legend rather than a writer to be enjoyed. In this selection Lawson is revealed as an author whose delightful, humorous, wry and moving short stories continue to delight generations of readers. This is the essential Lawson collection - the classic of Australian classics. 'Lawson's sketches are beyond praise.'Joseph Conrad 'Lawson gets more feelings, observation and atmosphere into a page than does Hemingway.'Edward Garnett