Pnin Paperback – June 18, 1989

Having never read anything by Nabokov before, on the strength of Amazon reviewers, and as an academic, I was intrigued by _Pnin_. The similarities between the fictional Pnin and his creator are many: both are Russian emigres, both teach at Eastern universities (Pnin at Waindell, Nabokov at Cornell, Wellsley and Harvard); however, while Timofei Pnin has difficulty ("dzeefeecooltsee") with English, while Nabokov was a master. Perhaps Nabokov uses Pnin as a foil to to highlight the silliness of academia and the petty intrigue and drama that is such a staple of university life. Whether or not this was his intent, the book is delightful.Pnin himself is at once both a comic and tragic character - an emigre who does not wholly fit in his adopted country, but who has a passion for his subject (Russian language and literature); an academic who is unknowingly a laughingstock, but who also is a hopeless romantic, hoping a lost lover will return, trying to do right by her son from another man.What struck me most powerfully, however, was Nabokov's brilliant way with words - not only the Russian and German (which was liberally sprinkled throughout the book) - but of English as well: "One had to forget - because one could not live with the thought that this graceful, fragile, tender youhng woman with those eyes, that smile, those gardens and snows in the background, had been brought in a cattle car to an extermination camp and killed by an injection ... into the heart, into the gentle heart one had heard beating under one's lips in the dusk of the past." (p 135)Nabokov skewers academic politics, professors who take themselves entirely too seriously, and even students (the "typical American college student who does not know geography, is immune to noise, and thinks education is but a means to get eventually a remunerative job." (pp125 - 6). Yet this is done with such tenderness and gentleness through the character of Pnin, that one hardly notices the sharp edge beneath the words.Pnin himself is loveable and sweet, largly because he is such a fish out of water, with such good intentions that are too often misunderstood. I thorougly enjoyed _Pnin_ in equal measure for Nabokov's way with words as for his satire of academic life, and I look forward to reading more by him. Highly recommended.

The first thing that strikes readers of Nabokov is his fluidity with the English language. He often concludes what seems like an ordinary paragraph with a flourish; a description of a setting or a person that coins a metaphor or juxtaposition of words never seen before.It’s ironic because English was not his native language. An exile from the Bolsheviks, he self-translated his own books from English to Russian and many Russian classics into English as well. He’s one of those almost super-intellects, like John Von Neumann, whose minds have to dip down to reach us lesser lights.But there’s another side of Nabokov that I find less appealing. Throughout his writings I see a personal perspective that while unique, also seems nihilistic. His characters experience evil and suffering with no recompense. The shallow and immoral achieve their aims with not even a whiff of punishment. And overlooking it all is an empty universe who cares for our travails only as much as it cares for a butterfly being devoured by a bird—not even an inch.Perhaps it’s Nabokov’s own lepidopterology, his loss of country and culture, or some other factor that contributes to his books’ sense that life has no meaning. Whatever the source, it’s pervasive and it seriously detracts from the enjoyment if you do hope that your sufferings are not entirely in vain.As for Pnin, it’s the story of a noble but hapless academic, who fails at love, parenthood and his career despite repeated striving to succeed. As a caricature of academic life it’s quite funny and his prose is literally incomparable but I do think you have to have a certain ennui or pessimism to truly enjoy it. Nabokov is a genius but in a dubious cause. The book is a self-evident classic and needs no recommendation but I retain reservations about the tone. I do plan, though, to read more Nabokov and in some ways this book has even inspired me to continue on through his extensive oeuvre.

I liked the book a lot. The quality was very good and it came in one piece.