Despair (novel)
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| Author | Vladimir Nabokov |
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| Original title | Отчаяние |
| Translator | Vladimir Nabokov |
| Country | U.S.S.R. |
| Language | Russian |
| Publisher | Sovremennye Zapiski |
| Released | 1934 |
| Released in English | 1937 |
Despair (Отчаяние (Otchayanie) in Russian) was written by Vladimir Nabokov and originally published as a serial in Sovremennye Zapiski during 1934. It was then published as a book in 1936 and later translated to English by the author in 1937.
In 1978 it was adapted into a movie, which premiered at The Cannes Film Festival on 19 May, directed by the German director Rainer Werner Fassbinder.
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[edit] Plot summary
The hero of the story, Hermann Karlovich, a German businessman, meets a tramp in the city of Prague, whom he believes to be his exact double. Even though Felix, the double, is seemingly unaware of their resemblance, Hermann insists that their likeness is most striking. On a plausible pretext, he cajoles Felix into changing clothes with him; and as the novel nears its end, he shoots the tramp only to collect a large sum of insurance money.
Much to Hermann's surprise, it turns out that no resemblance whatsoever was discerned between the two men, and the murderer is captured by the police in a small hotel in France, where he is hiding. "Despair" is a story of false doubles, one of Nabokov's favorite themes. In it, doubling seems to be only an obsession with physical resemblances.
Almost all of Nabokov's fictions make ample use of doubling, duplication, and mirroring, mostly in Pale Fire and Lolita. "Despair" is a perfect introductory reading to the double topos in Nabokov's more complex novels, where other kinds of doubling (scenes, numbers, names, etc.) are brought into play.
[edit] Trivia
A case of life imitating art happened in 2004 in Germany, when 48 year old Christian Bogner fled from prison and killed unemployed gardener Engelbert Danielsen to assume his identity. The two men looked remarkably alike. Bogner was captured four days later by the police. He was carrying his victim's papers.
[edit] Quotes From The Book
- Our resemblence struck me as a freak bordering on the miraculous. What interested him was mainly my wishing to see any resemblance at all. He appeared to my eyes as my double, that is, as a creature bodily identical with me. It was this absolute sameness which gave me so piercing a thrill. He on his part saw in me a doubtful imitator. I wish to lay stress, however, on the dimness of those ideas of his. He would certainly not have understood my comments upon them, the dullard.
- Chapter I
- I have grown much too used to an outside view of myself, to being both painter and model, so no wonder my style is denied the blessed grace of spontaneity. Try as I may I do not succeed in getting back into my old self; the disorder there is far too great; things have been moved, the lamp is black and dead, bits of my past litter the floor.
- Opening line of Chapter II
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
| The Works of Vladimir Nabokov |
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| Novels : Mary • King, Queen, Knave • The Defense • The Eye • Glory • Laughter in the Dark • Despair • Invitation to a Beheading • The Gift • The Enchanter • The Real Life of Sebastian Knight • Bend Sinister • Lolita • Pnin • Pale Fire • Ada or Ardor: A Family Chronicle • Transparent Things • Look at the Harlequins! • The Original of Laura
Short Stories : The Wood-Sprite • Russian Spoken Here • Sounds • Wingstroke • Gods • A Matter of Chance • The Seaport • Revenge • Beneficence • Details of a Sunset • The Thunderstorm • La Veneziana • Bachmann • The Dragon • Christmas • A Letter That Never Reached Russia • The Fight • The Return of Chorb • A Guide to Berlin • A Nursery Tale • Terror • Razor • The Passenger • The Doorbell • An Affair of Honor • The Christmas Story • The Potato Elf • The Aurelian • A Dashing Fellow • A Bad Day • The Visit to the Museum • A Busy Man • Terra Incognita • The Reunion • Lips to Lips • Orache • Music • Perfection • The Admiralty Spire • The Leonardo • In Memory of L. I. Shigaev • The Circle • A Russian Beauty • Breaking the News • Torpid Smoke • Recruiting • A Slice of Life • Spring in Fialta • Cloud, Castle, Lake • Tyrants Destroyed • Lik • Vasiliy Shishkov • Ultima Thule • Solus Rex • Mademoiselle O • The Assistant Producer • "That in Aleppo Once..." • A Forgotten Poet • Time and Ebb • Conversation Piece, 1945 • Signs and Symbols • First Love • Scenes from the Life of a Double Monster • The Vane Sisters • Lance • Easter Rain Drama : Death • The Grandfather • The North Pole • The Tragedy of Mr. Morn • The Man from the USSR • The Event • The Waltz Invention Non-Fiction : Speak, Memory • Strong Opinions • Nikolai Gogol • Lectures on Literature • Lectures on Russian Literature • Lectures on Don Quixote • The Nabokov-Wilson letters • Selected Letters, 1940-1977 Miscellaneous : Poems and Problems • Lolita: A Screenplay • The Annotated Lolita • Carrousel |
