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Review
"Hilariously funny and of a sadness." -Graham Greene
""Pnin"'s vita, though its essence is saintliness, is yet a work of brilliant magic and fabulous laughter." -"The New Republic "
"Fun and satire are just the beginning of the rewards of this novel. Generous, bewildered Pnin, that most kindly and impractical of men, wins our affection and respect." -"Chicago Tribune
"
"Nabokov can move you to laughter in the way the masters can-to laughter that is near to tears." -"The Guardian"
""Pnin"'s vita, though its essence is saintliness, is yet a work of brilliant magic and fabulous laughter." -"The New Republic "
"Fun and satire are just the beginning of the rewards of this novel. Generous, bewildered Pnin, that most kindly and impractical of men, wins our affection and respect." -"Chicago Tribune
"
"Nabokov can move you to laughter in the way the masters can-to laughter that is near to tears." -"The Guardian"
Book Description
One of the best-loved of Nabokov's novels, PNIN features his funniest and most heartrending character. Professor Timofey Pnin is a haplessly disoriented Russian émigré precariously employed on an American college campus in the 1950s. Pnin struggles to maintain his dignity through a series of comic and sad misunderstandings, all the while falling victim both to subtle academic conspiracies and to the manipulations of a deliberately unreliable narrator.
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The elderly passenger sitting on the north-window side of that inexorably moving railway coach, next to an empty seat and facing two empty ones, was none other than Professor Timofey Pnin. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
The elderly passenger sitting on the north-window side of that inexorably moving railway coach, next to an empty seat and facing two empty ones, was none other than Professor Timofey Pnin. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Nabokov's writing can make me grin in the same way as when I watch Lionel Messi or Johan Cruijf play football - the exhilaration of seeing a master in action, in complete control of his medium.
Pnin is endearing and lovable, while at the same time being consistently cringeworthy or absurd. He exploits are painted vividly on a meticulously realised backdrop of Nabokovian Americana. Familiar settings like universities and diners are embued with fresh life - descriptions I may have been tempted to skim in another book bear repeated re-readings.
Beauty is to be expected from Nabokov, but the strength of the humour may surprise you. The physical imagery of Pnin, with his strange, top heavy body and bald head combines with verbal humour ( "I never go in a hat even in winter") very effectively.
An undercurrent to the humour is that Pnin is frequently at the wrong end of it - the reader snickers at some gaffe poor Pnin has made, but in the next passage frowns at other characters laughing at him too.
It's short, but its images and scenes will leave a stronger imprint on your memory than most longer novels. I can definitely see myself rereading this in years to come.
Wonderful.
Pnin is endearing and lovable, while at the same time being consistently cringeworthy or absurd. He exploits are painted vividly on a meticulously realised backdrop of Nabokovian Americana. Familiar settings like universities and diners are embued with fresh life - descriptions I may have been tempted to skim in another book bear repeated re-readings.
Beauty is to be expected from Nabokov, but the strength of the humour may surprise you. The physical imagery of Pnin, with his strange, top heavy body and bald head combines with verbal humour ( "I never go in a hat even in winter") very effectively.
An undercurrent to the humour is that Pnin is frequently at the wrong end of it - the reader snickers at some gaffe poor Pnin has made, but in the next passage frowns at other characters laughing at him too.
It's short, but its images and scenes will leave a stronger imprint on your memory than most longer novels. I can definitely see myself rereading this in years to come.
Wonderful.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Pnin is a wonderful exploration of 1950s America set against a backdrop of `corporate' academia in leafy, prosperous suburbia. The hero of the title is a Russian émigré, balding, middle aged, single and quirky. His life is dominated by an inability to settle into his lodgings, domestic traumas involving various gadgets (particularly heating systems) and a thick accent. I found Nabokov's sympathy for the character and his cynicism towards the establishment highly entertaining. Pnin bumbles along, worrying about a possible heart condition and interacting in an almost perpetually perplexed manner with fellow academics and fellow Russian émigrés. Pnin however has a history and Nabokov provides enlightening and sensitive accounts of his life prior to arriving in the US and past loves. I felt far more sympathy with Pnin than the deep wound of consumerism and personal ambition that scars the benevolent society that Pnin pursues.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
With Pnin we are introduced to Russian émigré, Timofey Pnin. Tenuously untenured at a New England college, he muddles through 1950s America with a unique variety of English of his own. Mocked and loved on campus in equal measure, he has an acute sense of the ridiculous of the world and of himself. For Pnin sorrow is "the only thing in the world people really possess" and his planned courses will show that "the history of man is the history of pain". Alongside these bleak courseplans, we are treated two parties, a former wife convinced of her own glamour, the visit of her insular, wunderkind son, and Pnin's wonderful driving. As with much of Nabokov, there are dopelgangers aplenty causing Pnin (and us) to ask which is the genuine article. Anyone who knows himself to be fallible and slightly absurd will love Pnin, and will be grateful to Nabokov for making this invention a reality.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Not A Novel, But A Joy To Read
The story centres around Timofey Pnin, a Russian emigre who teaches in an American university, but is told by an unnamed narrator. Read more
Published 19 days ago by Alex in Leeds
hidden gem
Nabokov is one of those authors you either connect with or don't, which is perhaps more a matter of taste than we would like to admit. Read more
Published 9 months ago by rob crawford
Beautiful but confusing
The story of Timofey Pnin is a fairly enjoyable, if rather melancholic story. Many people have described this as a comic masterpiece however this mostly derives from Pnin's... Read more
Published on 11 Sep 2008 by Camus in Airdire
Pleasantly amusing but not brilliant in any real sense
Pleasantly amusing but not brilliant in any real sense. Written with panache, wit and richness (what else could be expected from Mr Nabokov? Read more
Published on 19 Aug 2008 by Pablo K
Endearing and funny book...
This story about a russian professor named Timofey Pnin who lives in an american town in the fifties is an extremely satisfying read. Read more
Published on 3 Mar 2002 by "queenfilo"
Perfectly weighted
Pnin is nothing like Seinfeld. Rather than being crass and unfunny it is gentle and often very amusing. The format reminded me for some reason, of The Pickwick Papers. Read more
Published on 6 Oct 2001
pnin not just a heartfelt profile
while there is the constant feeling of patronizing adoration of the bumbling professor, there is always the looming battle between him and his health, and the memories of his dead... Read more
Published on 17 April 2001
A Constant Smile About Nothing
Pnin is a lovely book, and it reminded me of Seinfeld in ways more than one.
Don't look for a George, a Jerry or an Elaine; maybe you can find some Kramer in Mr Eccentricity -... Read more
Published on 2 Jan 2001
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