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3.81 AVERAGE
3.81 AVERAGE
funny
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Cuốn này Nabokov viết làm cuốn dự phòng kiếm sống trong lúc đợi Lolita xuất bản. Thú thực thì cuốn này đọc khá chán, dù dễ đọc hơn Lolita và hơn hết là có "plot twist" khá thú vị. Có lẽ một phần vì tác giả viết theo chương, đăng lên The New Yorker theo các số khác nhau, rồi về sau mới viết thêm chương để tạo tính liên kết, rồi thành một tiểu thuyết hoàn chỉnh, nên đọc vẫn cảm thấy thiếu điều gì đó (như sự liền mạch) chăng?
Giọng văn khá ấm áp với đôi chút hài hước, kể về vị giáo sư lưu vong người Nga, 52 tuổi, tên Pnin, với thứ tiếng Anh bập bẹ của mình, "kiên nhẫn trong cuộc tranh đấu" truy tìm thứ gì đó thuộc về mình, ở nơi mà ông chả thể nào hòa nhập được. Cả truyện, ông cố tìm một căn nhà hay tìm thứ chìa khóa nào đó bị "kẻ phá hủy tâm trí, bạn của cơn sốt" cố tình giấu đi với "sự cẩn thận ghê gớm". Cuối truyện, khi ông sắp có được thứ mình tìm kiếm bấy lâu, thì mọi thứ sụp đổ.
Giọng văn khá ấm áp với đôi chút hài hước, kể về vị giáo sư lưu vong người Nga, 52 tuổi, tên Pnin, với thứ tiếng Anh bập bẹ của mình, "kiên nhẫn trong cuộc tranh đấu" truy tìm thứ gì đó thuộc về mình, ở nơi mà ông chả thể nào hòa nhập được. Cả truyện, ông cố tìm một căn nhà hay tìm thứ chìa khóa nào đó bị "kẻ phá hủy tâm trí, bạn của cơn sốt" cố tình giấu đi với "sự cẩn thận ghê gớm". Cuối truyện, khi ông sắp có được thứ mình tìm kiếm bấy lâu, thì mọi thứ sụp đổ.
This is a collection of several short, related stories about an absent minded professor. After reading more about this work, apparently Pnin is beloved by readers. Professor Pnin with his broken English is allegedly endearing (I was not quite endeared). This was quirky stuff. He gets on the wrong train. He nearly misses giving an evening lecture. He buys a football for a kid who doesn't like football. He doesn't realize his job is on the line. He talks to people, some of them like him and some don’t.
Vlad is one of the all time English language stylists, so he could be writing about - oh, say, the experience of getting all your teeth pulled out - and it would be considered a work of art. VN wrote Pnin while he was stuck toward the end of writing Lolita, and if the melancholy anticomedy and unreliable narrator of Pnin gave VN the break he needed to complete his most well known work, then I embrace the novel at hand. 2.5 stars, rounded up to 3 because I appreciate that this book deviates from other classics and was a quick read.
Vlad is one of the all time English language stylists, so he could be writing about - oh, say, the experience of getting all your teeth pulled out - and it would be considered a work of art. VN wrote Pnin while he was stuck toward the end of writing Lolita, and if the melancholy anticomedy and unreliable narrator of Pnin gave VN the break he needed to complete his most well known work, then I embrace the novel at hand. 2.5 stars, rounded up to 3 because I appreciate that this book deviates from other classics and was a quick read.
In my opinion, anybody who didn’t enjoy this book doesn’t know how to have fun. This book was very humorous and charming, and Pnin is a very sweet character who I couldn’t help but love!
adventurous
funny
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Plot- 0
Characters- 1
Setting- 1
Writing style- 1
Pacing- 0
Themes- .5
Originality- 1
Emotional impact- .5
Overall enjoyment- .5
Ending- 1
Characters- 1
Setting- 1
Writing style- 1
Pacing- 0
Themes- .5
Originality- 1
Emotional impact- .5
Overall enjoyment- .5
Ending- 1
I’m glad I’ve read Pnin in English, it’s beautifully written indeed - a mix of Russian length of sentences and English language mastery - I truly enjoyed the style. (I’ll definitely re-read Lolita in English, as in Russian something was off about the story, and maybe the language was the reason.)
The story itself, while humorous, feels also very real and encouraging. I don’t know if that was Nabokov’s intention, but besides sympathy towards Pnin, I also felt that I could learn something from his character. I like how Timofey Pavlovich always courageously accepts his misfortunes and keeps going no matter what, only occasionally allowing heart breaking recollections of the past. I like how all these fun parts of him make him stand out - so others, “normal people”, discuss him and think of him as almost the only interesting event it their lives. I respect how after losing his own country, and for decades failing to settle in the new one, he is still trying. I like how people from the past who hurt him and betrayed him still reach out to him in times of trouble and how he just cannot say “no”. Modern books too often teach us that the above behavior is the one of losers (you either abuse or be abused), so I’m glad to find a book where a funny, kind and trustworthy person shows this behavior and the readers sympathize him - we should have more people like this in our lives I think.
The story structure seemed strange in the beginning, but later I read that Nabokov envisioned this as a series of short stories about Pnin, explaining some parts being so loosely connected. The scene of Pnin sitting alone on the bench under the pines thinking of Mira is forever in my heart.
The story itself, while humorous, feels also very real and encouraging. I don’t know if that was Nabokov’s intention, but besides sympathy towards Pnin, I also felt that I could learn something from his character. I like how Timofey Pavlovich always courageously accepts his misfortunes and keeps going no matter what, only occasionally allowing heart breaking recollections of the past. I like how all these fun parts of him make him stand out - so others, “normal people”, discuss him and think of him as almost the only interesting event it their lives. I respect how after losing his own country, and for decades failing to settle in the new one, he is still trying. I like how people from the past who hurt him and betrayed him still reach out to him in times of trouble and how he just cannot say “no”. Modern books too often teach us that the above behavior is the one of losers (you either abuse or be abused), so I’m glad to find a book where a funny, kind and trustworthy person shows this behavior and the readers sympathize him - we should have more people like this in our lives I think.
The story structure seemed strange in the beginning, but later I read that Nabokov envisioned this as a series of short stories about Pnin, explaining some parts being so loosely connected. The scene of Pnin sitting alone on the bench under the pines thinking of Mira is forever in my heart.
The Revenge of Timofey Pnin
The traffic light was red. Timofey Pavlovich Pnin sat patiently at the steering wheel of his blue sedan directly behind a giant truck loaded with barrels of Budweiser, the inferior version of the Budvar he'd enjoyed in his Prague student days. On the passenger seat of the sedan, his paws resting on the open window, sat Gamlet, the stray dog Pnin had been feeding for the past few months, slowly encouraging the timid animal's trust. Gamlet had been unsure about the trip, reluctant to enter the car after Pnin had loaded the last boxes and suitcases and finally locked the door of the house he’d lived in for such a brief period. The dog ran around the yard in circles hesitating between going and staying until finally, much to Pnin's relief, he jumped on board.
But now Gamlet was looking back in the direction they had come with increasing anxiety.
Pnin glanced in the wing mirror. On the sidewalk, a man with a large and angry dog was hurrying towards them. The dog was straining at the leash, barking aggressively. Gamlet became more anxious and yapped madly in retaliation. Pnin recognised the dog immediately. It was Kykapeky’s dog, Kykapeky, the strutting director of the English Department, whose speciality was not Shakespeare or Milton or Wordsworth, but rather the impersonation of his unfortunate colleagues. Pnin knew himself to be the most unfortunate of the entire list. He had walked in on such impersonations many times, heard the sudden silence, seen people attempt to assume serious expressions. He'd felt the tension of modest guilt in the air, but noticed that some, like Kakadu from the French Department, didn’t even try to hide their sneers.
But the man holding the dog was not Kykapeky.
No, not Kykapeky, and not Kakadu either.
It was Kukushka!
Pnin had hoped to be well clear of Waindell University before his old rival arrived to take over the Russian Department, a department that Pnin had built by himself from nearly nothing. Pnin didn't suppose the man had changed much. He would be the same old Kukushka, taking, always taking, leaving nothing but discards.
And now Kukushka would take Gamlet too. The dog would surely jump out of the car window. When he did, Pnin would not stop to retrieve him. No, he would leave Gamlet on the sidewalk, leave him to Kukushka just as he’d surrendered many beloved things to that man in the past.
At that very moment the lights changed and the dog hesitated and Pnin accelerated as soon as the truck moved off, and he was away, striking west as so many times before. But this time, he was heading towards real freedom. As the blue sedan picked up speed, the dog stopped barking and lay down on the passenger seat and Pnin allowed himself to relax. He had escaped Kukushka finally and forever, leaving him to rot, alongside Kykapeky and Kakadu and the rest of the ptitsa, in the brackish backwaters of the miserable university town of Waindellville.
................................................
Index of Russian words used in this piece:
Gamlet = Hamlet, the prince of hesitation, and Pnin's favourite play.
Kykapeky = the sound a cockerel makes in Russian. The Head of the English Department in Waindell was called Jack Cockerell.
Kakadu = cockatoo. Kaka sounds like 'caca' which means 'shit' in French making the word particularly fitting for Blorenge, the Head of the French Department, who could barely speak French and thought Chateaubriand was a famous chef.
Kukushka = cuckoo, the robber bird, used here to stand in for the new Head of the Russian Department who had ousted Pnin in Waindellville as he had ousted him in Russia long years before.
Ptitsa = fowl, as in barnyard fowl
None of these names appear in Nabokov's novel - I've simply imagined what the very observant Pnin might have called his unpleasant colleagues, and his beloved dog, in the safety of his own mind.
................................................
Edit: October 6th
Pnin was my first Nabokov. I'm now reading [b:Pale Fire|7805|Pale Fire|Vladimir Nabokov|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388155863l/7805._SY75_.jpg|1222661] and I'm glad to see Pnin turning up on page 221 wearing a Hawaiian shirt. So he did go west!
And there's an index of foreign words at the end of Pale Fire, and lots of references to birds...
Edit: October 9th
I'm now reading [b:The Real Life of Sebastian Knight|71552|The Real Life of Sebastian Knight|Vladimir Nabokov|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348436904l/71552._SY75_.jpg|1180092] and on page 62, there's a reference to a possible book title, 'Cock Robin Hits Back', which along with the ornithological parallel echoes 'The Revenge of Timofey Pnin' a little...
Edit: November 25th
In [b:The Gift|8147|The Gift|Vladimir Nabokov|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1526825311l/8147._SY75_.jpg|144481], the narrator mentions a review writer (he calls him a 'critique-bouffe') who liked to... provide the book with his own ending...
The traffic light was red. Timofey Pavlovich Pnin sat patiently at the steering wheel of his blue sedan directly behind a giant truck loaded with barrels of Budweiser, the inferior version of the Budvar he'd enjoyed in his Prague student days. On the passenger seat of the sedan, his paws resting on the open window, sat Gamlet, the stray dog Pnin had been feeding for the past few months, slowly encouraging the timid animal's trust. Gamlet had been unsure about the trip, reluctant to enter the car after Pnin had loaded the last boxes and suitcases and finally locked the door of the house he’d lived in for such a brief period. The dog ran around the yard in circles hesitating between going and staying until finally, much to Pnin's relief, he jumped on board.
But now Gamlet was looking back in the direction they had come with increasing anxiety.
Pnin glanced in the wing mirror. On the sidewalk, a man with a large and angry dog was hurrying towards them. The dog was straining at the leash, barking aggressively. Gamlet became more anxious and yapped madly in retaliation. Pnin recognised the dog immediately. It was Kykapeky’s dog, Kykapeky, the strutting director of the English Department, whose speciality was not Shakespeare or Milton or Wordsworth, but rather the impersonation of his unfortunate colleagues. Pnin knew himself to be the most unfortunate of the entire list. He had walked in on such impersonations many times, heard the sudden silence, seen people attempt to assume serious expressions. He'd felt the tension of modest guilt in the air, but noticed that some, like Kakadu from the French Department, didn’t even try to hide their sneers.
But the man holding the dog was not Kykapeky.
No, not Kykapeky, and not Kakadu either.
It was Kukushka!
Pnin had hoped to be well clear of Waindell University before his old rival arrived to take over the Russian Department, a department that Pnin had built by himself from nearly nothing. Pnin didn't suppose the man had changed much. He would be the same old Kukushka, taking, always taking, leaving nothing but discards.
And now Kukushka would take Gamlet too. The dog would surely jump out of the car window. When he did, Pnin would not stop to retrieve him. No, he would leave Gamlet on the sidewalk, leave him to Kukushka just as he’d surrendered many beloved things to that man in the past.
At that very moment the lights changed and the dog hesitated and Pnin accelerated as soon as the truck moved off, and he was away, striking west as so many times before. But this time, he was heading towards real freedom. As the blue sedan picked up speed, the dog stopped barking and lay down on the passenger seat and Pnin allowed himself to relax. He had escaped Kukushka finally and forever, leaving him to rot, alongside Kykapeky and Kakadu and the rest of the ptitsa, in the brackish backwaters of the miserable university town of Waindellville.
................................................
Index of Russian words used in this piece:
Gamlet = Hamlet, the prince of hesitation, and Pnin's favourite play.
Kykapeky = the sound a cockerel makes in Russian. The Head of the English Department in Waindell was called Jack Cockerell.
Kakadu = cockatoo. Kaka sounds like 'caca' which means 'shit' in French making the word particularly fitting for Blorenge, the Head of the French Department, who could barely speak French and thought Chateaubriand was a famous chef.
Kukushka = cuckoo, the robber bird, used here to stand in for the new Head of the Russian Department who had ousted Pnin in Waindellville as he had ousted him in Russia long years before.
Ptitsa = fowl, as in barnyard fowl
None of these names appear in Nabokov's novel - I've simply imagined what the very observant Pnin might have called his unpleasant colleagues, and his beloved dog, in the safety of his own mind.
................................................
Edit: October 6th
Pnin was my first Nabokov. I'm now reading [b:Pale Fire|7805|Pale Fire|Vladimir Nabokov|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1388155863l/7805._SY75_.jpg|1222661] and I'm glad to see Pnin turning up on page 221 wearing a Hawaiian shirt. So he did go west!
And there's an index of foreign words at the end of Pale Fire, and lots of references to birds...
Edit: October 9th
I'm now reading [b:The Real Life of Sebastian Knight|71552|The Real Life of Sebastian Knight|Vladimir Nabokov|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348436904l/71552._SY75_.jpg|1180092] and on page 62, there's a reference to a possible book title, 'Cock Robin Hits Back', which along with the ornithological parallel echoes 'The Revenge of Timofey Pnin' a little...
Edit: November 25th
In [b:The Gift|8147|The Gift|Vladimir Nabokov|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1526825311l/8147._SY75_.jpg|144481], the narrator mentions a review writer (he calls him a 'critique-bouffe') who liked to... provide the book with his own ending...
funny
lighthearted
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
A charming, tragicomical story. A supposedly unknown author paints a beautiful portrait of Timofej Pavlovitjs Pnin, a Russian immigrant in the United States, lecturer at a small American university. Pnin is a very distracted man with an enormuous knowledge of Russian literature, but also with great difficulties to adapt to American society. We think he is kind of ridicule, with his strange Russian accent and funny ways of doing. But that also makes him a tragic figure, because in the end we realise Pnin has his own dignity that confronts us with what we find self-evident, but, of course, it isn't. This novel seems like an experiment of Nabokov, with weak but also hilaric parts. it's not recorded as his best work, but - as always with Nabokov - the prose is superb and this great-little man Pnin is painted with such warm compassion. Great fun to read.