ABSTRACT
This lecture and Véra Nabokov’s Foreword proclaim views that fly in the face of trends that have dominated Nabokov criticism for some sixty years, according to which he is either celebrated or condemned for being a brilliant and ironic manipulator of fictional techniques. Given the vast number of publications about Nabokov that have appeared, especially during the past few decades, it may seem surprising how relatively few readers have attempted to engage these views or to consider their implications for the radical rereading of Nabokov’s legacy that they suggest. Nevertheless, a number of investigators have explored the nature of Nabokov’s “otherworldly” beliefs, especially in recent years.3 It is not at all certain, however, that any of these studies has yet effected a major change in how Nabokov is generally viewed by serious students of literature around the world.
