The Enchanter

Book Description

Critics

• Nabokov's nymphet novella

  The Enchanter is an erotic fable composed in a perfumed style that affords a queasy contrast to the straightforward brutality of the plot, describing as it does how a paedophile marries a dying woman in order to obtain sexual access to the latter's t ... (read full critics)

  guardian.co.uk published on Sun, 26 Sep 2010

• Protonymphet

  This “long lost novel” isn’t a novel but a story of some twenty-five thousand words, here augmented by eight thousand from the pen of the translator, and by blank pages. The existence of The Enchanter, also known as The Magician, was well attested, a ... (read full critics)

  lrb published on Mon, 6 Sep 2010

2 Reviews

• *** This comment contains spoilers! ***

  

  Everything Counts Tonight

  Every page of this book is a lesson on literature.
  It is a "dead scrap" written in Russian by Vladimir Nabokov and later translated into English by his son Dmitri (who had learned the art of translation from... guess whom? his father).

  The book is about an almost 40 years old man who marries a very ... (continue)

  Every page of this book is a lesson on literature.
  It is a "dead scrap" written in Russian by Vladimir Nabokov and later translated into English by his son Dmitri (who had learned the art of translation from... guess whom? his father).

  The book is about an almost 40 years old man who marries a very ugly, ill woman because he's in love with her pre-adolescent daughter. The woman dies and the man begins to pester the young girl.

  Does this Russian tale ring any bell? Yes. It is the original idea of Lolita. It is located in France, not in the USA, it has just 50 pages and it is in Russian, not in English.

  I wrote that every page of the novella (and of Dmitri Nabokov's final notes) is a lesson on literature because the idea shared by "the Enchanter" and "Lolita" is the same (delving into the mind of a perverted man, with almost scientific interest) but the details are different and the final result to the reader is completely separated.

  In this pre-Lolita novella, the girl never leers: she is NOT a nymphet, then HH (or better, his literary grandfather) looks more of a culprit than HH may.

  Should it be said? What you want to say does not matter. What matters is how you've said it. Let's all read and learn.

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  RickyMos said on Mar 30, 2010 about the Paperback edition | Add your feedback

• 

  Nabokov is noted for his use of language, and this novel is no exception to that. However, the story is not one that everyone would want to read. The subject being the attempted molestation of a young girl by a middle-aged man. But one is fascinated by Nabokov's language and when one gets into the s ... (continue)

  Nabokov is noted for his use of language, and this novel is no exception to that. However, the story is not one that everyone would want to read. The subject being the attempted molestation of a young girl by a middle-aged man. But one is fascinated by Nabokov's language and when one gets into the story the mystery of what is going to happen seduces the reader. The man is quite mad, obsessed with desire, and yet at the same time he realises that what he is about to do is a dreadful thing. The whole dreadful episode starts with his attention being directed to a young girl on roller skates in the park. From then on he uses all his powers of intrigue and persuasion to bring about his dreadful plan. Then - once the attempt has been made - reality returns. But it is too late, the girl screams, the man runs, the people chase him - it is all over! The language is wonderful, the story is frightening.

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  GraJon said on Feb 26, 2009 | Add your feedback

Book Details

• Rating:
  (6)
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• English Books
• Hardcover 128 Pages
• Edition: New Ed
• ISBN-10: 0330300709
• ISBN-13: 9780330300704
• Publisher: MacMillan
• Pub date: Jul 01, 1998
• Dimensions: 1226 mm x 839 mm x 65 mm Just how big is that?
• Also available as: Paperback and Others
• In other languages: other languages llibres en català, Libri Italiani

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