The Eye (novel)

The Eye (Russian: Соглядатай, Sogliadatai), written in 1930, is Vladimir Nabokov's fourth novel. It was translated into English by the author's son Dmitri Nabokov in 1965.

At just over 100 pages, The Eye is Nabokov's shortest novel. As in many of Nabokov's early works, the characters are largely Russian émigrés relocated to Europe, specifically Berlin. In this case the novel is set in two houses where a young Russian tutor, Smurov, is renting room and board.

Plot summary

The action of the novel largely begins after the attempted (perhaps successful) suicide of the protagonist. After his supposed death, his "eye" observes a group of Russian émigrés as he tries to ascertain their opinions of the character Smurov, around whom much uncertainty and suspicion exists.

Themes

The novel deals largely with indeterminate locus of identity and the social construction of identity in the reactions and opinions of others. Smurov exists as a fraud, nobleman, scoundrel, "sexual adventurer", thief and spy in the eyes of the various characters. As the protagonist carefully collects these observations, he attempts to build a stable perspective on Smurov—whom we only belatedly discover is the narrator himself.

References

External links

• A brief bibliography and summary of The Eye at Zembla.