Companion to Vladimir Nabokov

This volume was conceived as a kind of encyclopedia in which many of the world’s recognized experts on Vladimir Nabokov, as well as specialists on other topics who could view him from a fresh or usefully provocative perspective, would provide concise analyses of his varied and extensive legacy. Although the genre of “editor’s introduction” often dictates some attempt to justify the appearance of the book to which it is attached, no such gesture will be found here. For one thing, the present volume is unique in the combination of its scope, which includes virtually everything that Nabokov published, and the variety of viewpoints it contains. For another, Nabokov remains a perennial favorite of readers both in the so-called real world and in academe, and informed discussions of his work are a natural outgrowth of this interest, which has shown no sign of abating since his death in 1977. Indeed, if we consider the recent explosion of interest in Nabokov in the country of his birth, now again called Russia, then the numbers of his readers worldwide has increased manyfold.