Slavic 154/Complit 153: Nabokov
Professor Justin Weir M 6:00-8:00 pm
Course description:
This course on the major fiction of Vladimir Nabokov begins with his major Russian novels in English translation, including The Defense, Laughter in the Dark (Camera Obscura), Invitation to a Beheading, and Despair, and concludes with classic English works, Speak, Memory, Lolita, and Pnin. Topics in the course include emigration and cross-cultural translation, literary modernism, metafiction, nostalgia and stories of childhood, as well as the literary representations of tyranny, violence, and abuse. We will pay additional attention to Nabokov’s interest in film and film aesthetics, and we will consider four screen versions of his novels (Luzhin’s Defense, Laughter in the Dark, Despair, and Lolita).
Course notes:
No knowledge of Russian required.
Related sections:
Discussion sections T 3:00-4:00pm, W 3:00-4:00, 6:00-7:00pm, TBA.