The Gift (Penguin Modern Classics)
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Product Description
Product Description
The Gift is the phantasmal autobiography of Fyodor Godunov-Cherdynstev, a writer living in the closed world of Russian intellectuals in Berlin shortly after the First World War. This gorgeous tapestry of literature and butterflies tells the story of Fyodor's pursuits as a writer. Its heroine is not Fyodor's elusive and beloved Zina, however, but Russian prose and poetry themselves.
About the Author
Vladimir Nabokov was born in 1899 in St Petersburg. He wrote his first literary works in Russian, but rose to international prominence as a masterly prose stylist for the novels he composed in English, most famously, Lolita. Between 1923 and 1940 he published novels, short stories, plays, poems and translations in the Russian language and established himself as one of the most outstanding Russian émigré writers. He died in 1977.
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First Sentence
One cloudy but luminous day, towards four in the afternoon on April the first, 192- (a foreign critic once remarked that while many novels, most German ones for example, begin with a date, it is only Russian authors who, in keeping with the honesty peculiar to our literature, omit the final digit) a moving van, very long and very yellow, hitched to a tractor that was also yellow, with hypertrophied rear wheels and a shamelessly exposed anatomy, pulled up in front of Number Seven Tannenberg Street, in the west part of Berlin. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
One cloudy but luminous day, towards four in the afternoon on April the first, 192- (a foreign critic once remarked that while many novels, most German ones for example, begin with a date, it is only Russian authors who, in keeping with the honesty peculiar to our literature, omit the final digit) a moving van, very long and very yellow, hitched to a tractor that was also yellow, with hypertrophied rear wheels and a shamelessly exposed anatomy, pulled up in front of Number Seven Tannenberg Street, in the west part of Berlin. Read the first page Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Copyright | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Paperback
This is the last book Vladimir Nabokov wrote in what he called his `untrammelled, rich, and infinitely docile Russian tongue'. The story of Fyodor Konstantinovich Godunov-Cherdyntsev, a young Russian émigré aristocrat in Berlin, told in this novel is both a personal journey and a reflection of Russia's past. Nabokov provides a brief synopsis in his foreword:
`The plot of Chapter One centers in Fyodor's poems. Chapter Two is a surge toward Pushkin in Fyodor's literary progress and contains his attempt to describe his father's zoological explorations. Chapter Three shifts to Gogol, but its real hub is the love poem dedicated to Zina. Fyodor's book on Chernyshevsky, a spiral within a sonnet, takes care of Chapter Four. The last chapter combines all the preceding themes and adumbrates the book Fyodor dreams of writing someday: The Gift.'
I would need to read this book at least two more times to fully appreciate it. It is not a novel to be devoured quickly, it deserves to be savoured slowly. On this, my first read, I simply enjoyed Nabokov's use of language both as he describes Fyodor's progress and as he lampoons Nikolai Chernyshevsky (1828-1889) in the `spiral within a sonnet'. It's beautifully done, the way that Nabokov works a biography of Chernyshevsky into his novel, contrasting two quite different Russias but with some shared shortcomings.
`Existence is thus an eternal transformation of the future into the past - an essentially phantom process - a mere reflection of the material metamorphosis taking place within us.'
And when the novel ends, will Fyodor's success continue? Will he and Zina be happy? Or will his (and their) moment be brief, like the butterflies? We have seen Fyodor evolve for self-indulgent idleness to focussed observer: one of his roles in the book is complete; the other is neatly transferred to the reader. Or so I think, on this reading.
`Good-bye, my book!'
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
`The plot of Chapter One centers in Fyodor's poems. Chapter Two is a surge toward Pushkin in Fyodor's literary progress and contains his attempt to describe his father's zoological explorations. Chapter Three shifts to Gogol, but its real hub is the love poem dedicated to Zina. Fyodor's book on Chernyshevsky, a spiral within a sonnet, takes care of Chapter Four. The last chapter combines all the preceding themes and adumbrates the book Fyodor dreams of writing someday: The Gift.'
I would need to read this book at least two more times to fully appreciate it. It is not a novel to be devoured quickly, it deserves to be savoured slowly. On this, my first read, I simply enjoyed Nabokov's use of language both as he describes Fyodor's progress and as he lampoons Nikolai Chernyshevsky (1828-1889) in the `spiral within a sonnet'. It's beautifully done, the way that Nabokov works a biography of Chernyshevsky into his novel, contrasting two quite different Russias but with some shared shortcomings.
`Existence is thus an eternal transformation of the future into the past - an essentially phantom process - a mere reflection of the material metamorphosis taking place within us.'
And when the novel ends, will Fyodor's success continue? Will he and Zina be happy? Or will his (and their) moment be brief, like the butterflies? We have seen Fyodor evolve for self-indulgent idleness to focussed observer: one of his roles in the book is complete; the other is neatly transferred to the reader. Or so I think, on this reading.
`Good-bye, my book!'
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
4 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
In my opinion, Nabokov is one of those writers who have been ill-served by his admirers, who risk creating an unachievable sense of expectation. For example, the back cover of my edition of `The Gift' quotes John Updike stating that Nabokov brought 'paradise wherever he alighted'. This would not describe my experience of Nabokov's last novel written in Russian and subsequently translated into English. Nonetheless, some of the writing, even in translation, achieves a shimmering, impressionistic intensity, somewhere between dream story and realism.
In comparison, other parts of the novel appear to be little more than clever exercises in parody and to appreciate these you need to know your Russian literature. Nabokov would have probably expected no less of his readers; he once stated in an interview:
`I work hard, I work long, on a body of words until it grants me complete possession and pleasure. If the reader has to work in his turn-- so much the better. Art is difficult.'
I was able to recognise the impersonation of Dostoyevsky's writing in the scene where a self-important group of émigré writers are arguing over membership of their irrelevant committee, but other acts of literary ventriloquism passed me by. The purported biography of a real writer Chernyshevsky, by an imaginary writer, the protagonist of the novel, Fyodor, would have been of contemporary relevance in the period the novel was written as his work `What is to done?', influenced the revolutionary movement in Russia. Nabokov had personal cause to excoriate the revolution as it resulted in the upheaval of his family and the subsequent assassination of his father, but the character dismemberment of Lenin's favourite author seems overly esoteric today.
The real interest lies in the evocation of the émigré life, and the impetus this gives to Fyodor in terms of the his literary development, as well as his relationship with his muse, Zina. Devotees of the modernist novel will ponder on the ways in which the imaginary and the real are intertwined as these themes are explored. Nevertheless, whilst 'The Gift' is a book with many attractions, overall it is perhaps one for the specialist, even academic, reader, rather than someone looking for further immersion in Nabokov's world after the experience of `Lolita'.
In comparison, other parts of the novel appear to be little more than clever exercises in parody and to appreciate these you need to know your Russian literature. Nabokov would have probably expected no less of his readers; he once stated in an interview:
`I work hard, I work long, on a body of words until it grants me complete possession and pleasure. If the reader has to work in his turn-- so much the better. Art is difficult.'
I was able to recognise the impersonation of Dostoyevsky's writing in the scene where a self-important group of émigré writers are arguing over membership of their irrelevant committee, but other acts of literary ventriloquism passed me by. The purported biography of a real writer Chernyshevsky, by an imaginary writer, the protagonist of the novel, Fyodor, would have been of contemporary relevance in the period the novel was written as his work `What is to done?', influenced the revolutionary movement in Russia. Nabokov had personal cause to excoriate the revolution as it resulted in the upheaval of his family and the subsequent assassination of his father, but the character dismemberment of Lenin's favourite author seems overly esoteric today.
The real interest lies in the evocation of the émigré life, and the impetus this gives to Fyodor in terms of the his literary development, as well as his relationship with his muse, Zina. Devotees of the modernist novel will ponder on the ways in which the imaginary and the real are intertwined as these themes are explored. Nevertheless, whilst 'The Gift' is a book with many attractions, overall it is perhaps one for the specialist, even academic, reader, rather than someone looking for further immersion in Nabokov's world after the experience of `Lolita'.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
23 reviews
19 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Coming of Age in Exile
13 Dec 1999
Format:Paperback
I found this "coming of age in exile" novel of VN's to be an exhilirating, long read. The sensibilities developed in this final Russian novel of VN's are multi-layered and alternately opaque and transparent. Oftentimes this book appears to be going nowhere and then a passage appears that transports you into another of Nabokov's magical perspectives where human imagination informs the universe! I've enjoyed the pace of the text and found it to be a book worth savoring over an extended reading. Criticisms about the books apparent "plotlessness" are not based in any Nabokovian context. Careful reading, sirs and ladies, is the way to proceed. The reading is the thing! Take the gift as just that.
12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Hail Colorfully Winged Muse!
24 Oct 2001
Format:Paperback
Nabokov is very funny(in case you didn't already know that) and no matter what his subject matter the humor comes through. That is one of the gifts here, the other more obvious one is literature, specifically Russian literature, the tradition of which is a gift the Russian born Nabokov received and in this book he gives you his version of that tradition in brief and since this book would be the last book he wrote in Russian one assumes he is paying a quite deliberate homage to his homelands men of letters. But Nabokov is never serious for long and the laughs are always right around the corner or on the next page. This book is also about lead character Fyodor's gift which is his talent and that talent appears in wonderful ways all through the narrative. This was written in Nabokov's middle period while he lived in Berlin,Germany writing in a small hotel room with family and those circumstances just makes this all the more incredible because it is a very beautiful book. Perhaps Nabokov was wondering what he would do with his gift at this most uncertain pre-WWII moment in his life. His great books were still to come but this book is his first to show that he is no ordinary artist and it at least equals if not surpasses the later books in regards to appeal because it is so personal, or at least as personal as Nabokov gets. You know you are in the hands of a master when you suddenly realize the chapter you are reading is a dream even though it is written in a way that does not immediately give that away and so you share the dreamers belief that the dreamed moment is real(what is a Russian novel without a dream). But again Nabokovs humor comes into play as the clue that this is in fact a dream is only subtley inserted into the chapter. After early disruptions and tragedy(his father was assasinated by Russian police)Nabokov led a charmed life, perhaps willed it to be so, and this book is marked with that charm and his word magicians wit which were to be his life sustaining strengths and his father from whom he received the precious gift seems to benevolently haunt the margins of these farewell to Russia pages. And butterfly hunting is one of the more beautiful ways to describe the artists pursuit.
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful
VN's best Russian-language novel
18 Mar 1999
Format:Paperback
This is an intense, nostalgic, non-linear novel. It's a rich treat for Nabokov fans. The first time I read it, I recall getting frustrated at the seeming plotlessness, yet there were certain scenes and passsages that I could never forget. I picked it up again a couple of years later, and absolutely fell in love with it. The Gift is, in some ways, Nabokov's take on Joyce-- a roaming perspective, an intellectual humor, an overall sense of character development. The end of the novel is ecstatic with the potential of life.
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