Vladimir Nabokov

8 Stories

Tiny Blue Butterfly Flutters Back From Brink

Karner blue population now 'robust' in some areas, near-extinct in others

(Newser) - More than 20 years of habitat restoration and breeding programs have helped the endangered Karner blue butterfly make a comeback in the pine barrens of upstate New York where it was discovered by Russian author Vladimir Nabokov decades ago. "This project has been unbelievably rewarding," said Neil Gifford,...

15 Books That Will Never Hit Theaters

Thomas Pynchon's 'Gravity's Rainbow'? Not likely

(Newser) - The Great Gatsby is about to get the celluloid treatment again . And while we can only hope that Baz Luhrmann does it justice, a great book does not automatically equal a great film. (The Scarlett Letter much?) The Huffington Post lists 15 novels that it considers "unfilmable":
  1. Pale Fire,
...

50 Famous Authors Other Famous Authors Hate


 50 Famous Authors 
 Other Famous 
 Authors Hate 
poor jane austen

50 Famous Authors Other Famous Authors Hate

Jane Austen gets clobbered by Mark Twain, Charlotte Bronte

(Newser) - Just because you're in the club, doesn't mean you like all of its members. To wit, Examiner.com lists 50 famous authors that other famous authors really don't like...in their own, well-penned words:
  1. Mark Twain on Jane Austen: "Every time I read Pride and Prejudice, I want to
...

It's a Busy Fall for Books
 It's a Busy Fall for Books 

It's a Busy Fall for Books

Dave Eggers, Philip Roth, Jon Krakauer have new titles out

(Newser) - Hoping to salvage a miserable year, publishers are flooding the fall season with more hot tickets than normal. Some samples, from the Wall Street Journal:
  • Dan Brown, The Lost Symbol, Sept. 1: The next in a series from the Da Vinci Code writer.
  • Nicholson Baker, The Anthologist, Sept. 8: A
...

Playboy Wins Rights to Nabokov's Last Novella

(Newser) - The literary event of the year will be sandwiched between nudes in the pages of Playboy this fall, the Independent reports. The magazine won the rights to publish Vladimir Nabokov's final novella—which he ordered to be destroyed after his death—after its literary editor went to great lengths to...

Penguin to Publish Last Nabokov Novel

(Newser) - The unfinished manuscript that Lolita novelist Vladimir Nabokov ordered destroyed after his death will hit bookstores in November, The Bookseller reports. Penguin Classics, which acquired The Original of Laura from Nabokov's son Dimitri in a six-figure deal, will reproduce the index cards on which Laura was written alongside transcriptions of...

Nabokov's Ghost: Make Buck off Laura
Nabokov's Ghost: Make Buck off Laura
OPINION

Nabokov's Ghost: Make Buck off Laura

Son's imagined convo with dead dad might've saved final manuscript

(Newser) - Dmitri Nabokov's decision not to destroy his famed father's unfinished manuscript followed an imagined conversation with Vladimir's ghost, writes Ron Rosenbaum for Slate. Rosenbaum, who sleuthed his way through the "to burn or not to burn" debate, was previously told by Dmitri—who hinted at the book's genius before...

Nabokov's Last Work: Burn It?
Nabokov's Last Work: Burn It?

Nabokov's Last Work: Burn It?

Writers debate last request of Russian-American novelist

(Newser) - His works include Lolita and Pale Fire, but Vladimir Nabokov's greatest masterpiece might be an unfinished manuscript languishing in a Swiss safe deposit box. Nabokov demanded that The Original of Laura be burned after his death, but his heir has vacillated. Now that Dmitri Nabokov is hinting he might go...

8 Stories