Research Catalog

Title

Nabokov's Shakespeare / Samuel Schuman ; with a foreword by Brian Boyd.

Author

Schuman, Samuel

Publication

New York, NY : Bloomsbury, 2014.

Supplementary Content

Cover image

Items in the Library & Off-site

Details

Additional Authors

Boyd, Brian, 1952-

Description

xv, 187 pages : illustrations; 22 cm

Summary

"Nabokov's Shakespeare is a comprehensive study of an important and interesting literary relationship. It explores the many and deep ways in which the works of Shakespeare, the greatest writer of the English language, penetrate the novels of Vladimir Nabokov, the finest English prose stylist of the twentieth century. As a Russian youth, Nabokov had read all of Shakespeare, in English. He claimed a shared birthday with the Bard, and some of his most highly regarded novels (Lolita, Pale Fire and Ada) are infused with Shakespeare and Shakespeareanisms. Across a gulf of over three centuries and half the globe, Shakespeare was an enormous influence on the twentieth-century Russian/American author. Nabokov uses Shakespeare and Shakespeare's works in a surprisingly wide variety of ways, from the most casual references to deep thematic links (e.g., Humbert Humbert, the narrator and protagonist of Lolita sees himself as The Tempest's Caliban). Schuman provides a taxonomy of Nabokov's Shakespeareanisms; a quantitative analysis of Shakespeare in Nabokov; an examination of Nabokov's Russian works, his early English novels, the non-Novelistic writings (poetry, criticism, stories), Nabokov's major works, and his final novels; and a discussion of the nature of literary relationships and influence. With a Foreword by Brian Boyd"--

Subjects

• LITERARY CRITICISM / Shakespeare
• Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 > Influence
• LITERARY CRITICISM / General
• American fiction > English influences
• Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 > Criticism and interpretation
• Nabokov, Vladimir Vladimirovich, 1899-1977 > Criticism and interpretation
• Nabokov, Vladimir Vladimirovich, 1899-1977 > Knowledge > Literature

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (pages 171-176) and index.

Contents

Foreword / Brian Boyd -- Introduction : Shakespeare, Nabokov, and Me -- 1. "The Sun's a Thief:" Nabokov's Shakespeare : Nabokov, English and English Literature ; Theme ; A Taxonomy of Nabokov's Shakespeareanisms ; Preview -- 2. The Russian Works : The Tragedy of Mr. Morn ; "Shakespeare" ; Translations ; Early Prose : The Wood Sprite ; Glory ; The Gift ; Invitation to a Beheading ; Laughter in the Dark ; Despair -- 3. "Which is Sebastian?" What's in a (Shakespearean and Nabokovian) Name? -- 4. No Left Turn, or Something Rotten the State : Bend Sinister and Hamlet -- 5. Hurricane Lolita : The Nabokovian Tempest -- 6. Tempest Point on the Bohemian Sea : PNIN -- 7. The Lunatic, the Lover and the Poet : Pale Fire and "Timon of Athens" -- 8. "O What a Noble Mind:" Ada and Hamlet -- 9. The Last Novels : Transparent Things ; Look at the Harlequins! -- 10. A Miscellany of Other English Works : "That in Aleppo Once ..." ; Eugene Onegin ; Speak, Memory ; Reviews and Notes -- 11. Concluding Thoughts -- Appendix. Nabokov and Shakespeare : A Quantitative Approach.

Call Number

JFD 14-3650

ISBN

• 9781628924268 (hardback)
• 1628924268 (hardback)
• 9781628922714 (paperback)
• 1628922710 (paperback)
• 9781628923773 (ePub) (canceled/invalid)
• 1628923776 (ePub) (canceled/invalid)
• 9781628921519 (ePDF) (canceled/invalid)
• 162892151X (ePDF) (canceled/invalid)

LCCN

2014003389

OCLC

857967300

Author

Schuman, Samuel, author.

Title

Nabokov's Shakespeare / Samuel Schuman ; with a foreword by Brian Boyd.

Publisher

New York, NY : Bloomsbury, 2014.

Type of Content

text

Type of Medium

unmediated

Type of Carrier

volume

Bibliography

Includes bibliographical references (pages 171-176) and index.

Connect to:

Cover image

Added Author

Boyd, Brian, 1952- writer of foreword.

Research Call Number

JFD 14-3650