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Nina is attractive, seemingly aloof, and ephemeral. Victor, on the other hand, though still feeling deep affection for her, lacks the conviction of true love. He has remained faithful in his own marriage, while she has had multiple affairs that have gone ignored by her husband, Ferdinand, beyond his
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At the end of their meeting, Victor declines to join Nina and her husband on a car ride. His last words to her are a suggestion that he may love her, immediately after which he says he is "only joking". Later, he learns they have been involved in a car crash in which
Ferdinand, the "invulnerable
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The story drifts between past and present, as Victor recalls past encounters. He also expresses deprecatory and possibly jealous views of
Ferdinand, with whom he is nominally friends but secretly views as an “arrogant” Franco-Hungarian writer and a “weaver of words”.
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It has been argued that both the narrator and Nina’s husband, Ferdinand, bear some resemblance to
Nabokov. While the plot was invented, the story may be a "tangential record" of an extramarital affair that Nabokov may have engaged in.
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The story incorporates many of
Nabokov’s themes and techniques that are present in later novels: recreating events by memory, the issue of reality, relationship to women, the sense of loss, recalling
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Nabokov's attempts to publish the manuscript in
English in the United States met with initial disappointment, and he referred to it as a "boomerang variety of manuscript".
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town. Both are married and have met and flirted on several occasions over the years since their first kiss in Russia, “at the margins of life”.
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Field, Andrew. VN The Life and Art of
Vladimir Nabokov. Crown Publishers, New York (1986)
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36:. The English translation was performed by Nabokov and Peter Pertzov.
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Victor, the narrator, serendipitously encounters Nina, a fellow
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rogue", escapes with minor injury, but in which Nina perishes.
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154:. Véra (Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov). Random House New York (1999).
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as the second greatest short story by
Nabokov, after “
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88:, the relationship to the double, the
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749:The Man from the USSR and Other Plays
706:Details of a Sunset and Other Stories
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208:Nabokov's 1964 interview with Playboy
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92:, and a non-chronological narrative.
68:using them for business connections.
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699:Tyrants Destroyed and Other Stories
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692:A Russian Beauty and Other Stories
648:Spring in Fialta and other stories
174:"The Top 10 Nabokov Short Stories"
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876:Fiction with unreliable narrators
866:Short stories by Vladimir Nabokov
362:The Real Life of Sebastian Knight
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30:Весна в Фиальте (Vesna v Fial'te)
397:Ada or Ardor: A Family Chronicle
32:in Russian, during his exile in
713:The Stories of Vladimir Nabokov
881:Nonlinear narrative literature
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107:The story was ranked by
411:Look at the Harlequins!
203:Spring in Fialta (text)
28:in 1936, originally as
616:That in Aleppo Once...
806:Nabokov's Butterflies
418:The Original of Laura
833:Dmitri Nabokov (son)
316:Laughter in the Dark
828:Véra Nabokov (wife)
742:The Waltz Invention
684:Cloud, Castle, Lake
676:Nabokov's Congeries
482:The Return of Chorb
468:Details of a Sunset
90:unreliable narrator
871:1936 short stories
792:Poems and Problems
461:A Matter of Chance
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288:King, Queen, Knave
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213:Shmoop Study Guide
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759:Non-fiction
633:Collections
295:The Defense
185:25 February
24:written by
22:short story
860:Categories
121:References
844:Nabokovia
799:Carrousel
390:Pale Fire
475:Bachmann
337:The Gift
216:Archived
80:Comments
52:Synopsis
816:Related
601:English
439:Russian
354:English
323:Despair
302:The Eye
273:Russian
259:(works)
20:" is a
583:French
545:Orache
454:Sounds
376:Lolita
266:Novels
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86:Russia
34:Berlin
727:Plays
552:Music
503:Razor
309:Glory
162:(hc.)
58:exile
383:Pnin
281:Mary
187:2019
156:ISBN
137:ISBN
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.