Pnin - Moé for Solarpunk Books

160 pages

English language

Published Oct. 29, 1971 by Penguin.

ISBN:: 978-0-14-001491-4
OCLC Number:: 16215345

(1 review)

One of the best-loved of Nabokov’s novels, Pnin features his funniest and most heart-rending 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.

Initially an almost grotesquely comic figure, Pnin gradually grows in stature by contrast with those who laugh at him. Whether taking the wrong train to deliver a lecture in a language he has not mastered or throwing a faculty party during which he learns he is losing his job, the gently preposterous hero of this enchanting novel evokes the reader’s deepest protective instinct.

Serialized in The New Yorker and published in book form in 1957, Pnin brought Nabokov both his first National Book …

One of the best-loved of Nabokov’s novels, Pnin features his funniest and most heart-rending 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.

Initially an almost grotesquely comic figure, Pnin gradually grows in stature by contrast with those who laugh at him. Whether taking the wrong train to deliver a lecture in a language he has not mastered or throwing a faculty party during which he learns he is losing his job, the gently preposterous hero of this enchanting novel evokes the reader’s deepest protective instinct.

Serialized in The New Yorker and published in book form in 1957, Pnin brought Nabokov both his first National Book Award nomination and hitherto unprecedented popularity.

29 editions

norb reviewed Pnin by Vladimir Nabokov

I've Always Avoided Lolita, Glad I Didn't Avoid Pnin

4 stars

Content warning Maybe a little bit of a spoiler ahead but probably not much. Nothing to ruin the plot, anyways.

I've never read any Nabokov before. Had never been really interested in Lolita, just due to the noise around it. Decided to read this book on a whim because it was available at my local library and I needed something for a trip.

I am glad I picked this one! I found this book confusing in a good way. What is the point? I think it's meant to be a bit of a lark on Russian emigres, and university culture in general (something I have first hand knowledge of). It was much funnier than I expected (a bit more on that later).

Pnin is a very interesting character. His description really reminded me of Gru from Despicable Me, down to the funny accent and way of speaking. (Maybe they cribbed him for the movie? I have no idea.)

The little vignettes give a view into this man's strange world. His past is interwoven with his present, kind of. The narrator/writer clearly has a fondness for the main character, and you kind of find out why by the end.

There isn't much conflict to the story. There aren't many big, dramatic moments. There are some very funny bits - to whit "The evolution of sense is, in a sense, the evolution of nonsense." I had to read it 3 or 4 times to get it, but when I did HA! Other little one liners and "throw away" jokes abound. There are bits of other languages (especially Russian), mostly phonetically written in English, and I think probably a few jokes in those snippets that I didn't get.

Overall, it was a pretty lighthearted read about a character that is both believable and unbelievable at the same time. By the end, you are kind of left to question if the stories are actually true or not since they are being recounted second- and possibly third-hand, but it probably doesn't really matter, which is maybe the point.

I will definitely check out more Nabokov. The Luzhin Defense seems interesting for sure!