King, Queen, Jack
Tags
Summary
Editor's review
Who it's for
A good fit for
- Literary scholars interested in Nabokov's early work and stylistic evolution
- Readers who enjoy psychological realist fiction and savor subtle motives and complex relationships
- Literature lovers who appreciate a cool, precise, irony-laden narrative style
- Readers concerned with the spiritual state and social panorama of early 20th-century European exiled intellectuals
Not a good fit for
- Readers seeking light entertainment or plot-driven popular fiction
- Readers who are deeply uncomfortable with moral flaws in characters and prefer clear-cut narratives
Reading tips
- While reading, note Nabokov's meticulous descriptions of Berlin's urban spaces and everyday objects; they are often silent footnotes to characters' psychology and fate.
- It is recommended to understand the power dynamics of the triangle against the backdrop of the economic and spiritual insecurity of post-WWI European exiles, which yields richer layers.
- One may read it alongside Nabokov's later English rewriting of the book ("King, Queen, Knave") to appreciate the author's own reflection on and reconstruction of his early work.
About the publisher
Shanghai Translation Publishing House is a Chinese publisher oriented mainly toward translation and publishing. Its publications cover foreign literature, world classics and classic works, as well as social culture, folk literature and classical poetry. The database contains 2,618 titles, including Never Let Me Go, Les Misérables (2 volumes), Don Quixote (illustrated collector's edition), The Complete Comedies of Molière (4 volumes), The Complete Novels of Kafka (3 volumes), The Collected Works of Dostoevsky (9-volume set), Reason and Persons, and Oedipus Rex (Translation Classics). Its author resources include foreign writers such as Kazuo Ishiguro, Victor Hugo, Cervantes and Molière, as well as translators such as Zheng Kelu, Sun Jiameng, Li Jianwu and Zhang Kun. The publisher has brands such as "Translation Classics Selections" and "Translation Documentary," and emphasizes translated works in foreign literature and the humanities and social sciences, while also publishing bilingual dictionaries and foreign-language educational books. Public information is limited; the above is based on the book information in the database.
Contents
- 版权信息
- 前言
- 一
- 二
- 三
- 四
- 五
- 六
- 七
- 八
- 九
- 一○
- 一一
- 一二
- 一三
- 译者后记
FAQ
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About the author
Vladimir Nabokov was a Russian-born American novelist, poet, translator, and lepidopterist. Born in 1899 into a noble family in St. Petersburg, he went into exile in Europe in 1919, later graduated from Cambridge University, became a U.S. citizen in 1945, and taught at Cornell University; he died in Montreux, Switzerland, in 1977. His work spans novels, short stories, essays, and literary criticism, with major titles including Lolita, Pale Fire, Pnin, and Speak, Memory. His prose is intricate and ornate, marked by irony, wordplay, and unreliable narration, and has deeply influenced modern fictional technique; annotated and guided editions of Lolita and his correspondence collections attest to the continued reach of his work in the Chinese-speaking world.