Stalking Nabokov - Brian Boyd

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A readable collection on one of the 20th century's greatest writers, this will be enjoyed by Nabokov fans and students of 20th century literature. Library Journal 9/15/11 Boyd's graceful style and passionate advocacy achieves the goal of the best literary criticism: it compels us to pick up Nabokov and read, or read again, the work of a master. Publishers Weekly 7/11/2011 In Stalking Nabokov Boyd attempts something fairly ambitious: he takes the titanic Nabokov and seeks to revise him upwards. As Boyd sees it, he is not only the greatest novelist of the century; he is also a considerable poet, an important scientist, a controversially original translator, a fearless and liberating critic, a learned psychologist... Vera [Nabokov] soon came to value him and to trust him; and we should follow her lead... Professor Boyd, as the author of books on evolution and cognition, is well equipped to give us a real sense of Nabokov's scientific weight... The long and fervent essay in Stalking Nabokov [on the poem] Pale Fire, compel us to reexamine the poem as an autonomous whole. And the exercise is epiphanic. Pale Fire glows with fresh pathos and vibrancy -- and so does Pale Fire. For the first time we see the poem in all its innocence, and register the vandalism of Kinbote's desperate travesty. // So at last the true dimensions of Pale Fire are more clearly revealed to us... On the timbre of Nabokov's artistic spirit Boyd is fundamentally right-headed. -- Martin Amis Times Literary Supplement Advances a consistent and intriguing reading of [Nabokov's] work... a powerful corrective to a prevailing view of Nabokov. -- Larry Hardesty Boston Globe 12/8/2011 Essential for everyone interested in the Russian master. Booklist 12/1/2011 Boyd's deft analysis of the novels is superb... genuinely exhilarating... Brian Boyd is not only Nabokov's biographer but also his pre-eminent critic. This is a valuable and delightful collection of essays on one of the twentieth century's most significant novelists. -- Paul Morgan Australian Book Review 09/01/2012 There is plenty of sensible and revealing stuff here. New Yorker 1/16/2012 Absolutely fascinating... Uniquely compelling... This is Boyd at his best. -- Eric Naiman San Francisco Chronicle 1/8/2012 There is much here that will inform, enliven, and enlighten the work of one of the greatest novelists of his century. New York Times Book Review Required reading for serious students of Nabokov. Choice March 2012 Boyd is always a pleasure to read...and this collection does not disappoint. -- Stephen H. Blackwell Slavic Review Vol 71, No 4 Ambitious... Fervent... Epiphanic. -- Martin Amis Times Literary Supplement 12/23/2011 Substantial... Impressive... Enlightening... Best of all, his enthusiasm for Nabokov's verbal pyrotechnics, for his comically deluded heroes pursuing elusive objects of desire, for the ability to depict life itself, joyously 'swarming with inexhaustible diversity and delight,' sends you back to read the books... of one of literature's great masters. -- David Eggleton The Listener 12/22/12