Nabokov: Style and Scandal

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

Vladimir Nabokov was among the most gifted prose stylists in the English language. With the publication of Lolita, he became one of its most scandalous writers. He was also a master of self-presentation and literary celebrity. His carefully crafted biography, including his early Russian works, his bilingualism, and his rejection of contemporary politics, made him into the essential literary celebrity of mid-century America. This course reads Nabokov's greatest works—from both his Russian and English periods—alongside the creation of his authorial persona in order to understand how this master manipulator used literature, politics, and the media to make himself into one of the twentieth century's definitive figures.