King, Queen, Jack cover

King, Queen, Jack

Rating 4.0
Word count
167K words
Chapters
16
ISBN
9787532768882

Tags

Summary

King, Queen, Knave tells of Franz, an inexperienced young man who comes to Berlin to seek help from his wealthy uncle Dreier, then is seduced into becoming the lover of Dreier's wife Martha, and the two conspire to kill Dreier. But when Martha learns that an invention Dreier is funding will bring him great wealth, she suddenly changes her mind. Martha soon dies of pneumonia, however, so Dreier never learns of his wife's and nephew's betrayal.

Editor's review

King, Queen, Knave is one of Nabokov's early Berlin novels written in Russian, displaying the master's cool insight into human nature and desire in the context of exile. Unlike the ornate complexity of the later Lolita, this book's narrative is more restrained and precise, like an intricate psychological instrument dissecting layer by layer the alienation and downfall of its three main characters entangled in lust and self-interest. The story's core is a classic love triangle, but Nabokov gives it an extraordinary modernity—the characters' motives are not pure love but are entwined with existential anxiety, ambitions of class mobility, and confusion about self-identity. Reading this book is not only to follow a dangerous game but to observe how Nabokov plants his signature detail-capturing, irony, and fascination with the randomness of fate into a seemingly popular plot framework. For readers familiar with Nabokov, this is a perfect opportunity to explore the origins of his style; for new readers, it is a relatively gentle yet never shallow entry into his literary world. The Shanghai Translation Publishing House edition is of high quality and conveys the original's cold texture well.

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

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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 China · Founded in 1978

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

  1. 版权信息
  2. 前言
  3. 一
  4. 二
  5. 三
  6. 四
  7. 五
  8. 六
  9. 七
  10. 八
  11. 九
  12. 一○
  13. 一一
  14. 一二
  15. 一三
  16. 译者后记

FAQ

Is this book very different in style from Lolita?
The difference is significant. King, Queen, Knave is a work from Nabokov's Russian period, with a cooler, more concise style focused on the cold psychological games of the adult world; Lolita is a representative work of his mature English period, with extremely ornate, complex language and themes that are more controversial and philosophically profound.
What does 'Knave' in the novel refer to?
The knave ranks below the king and queen in cards; in the novel it refers both to the young, exploited nephew Franz and symbolizes the seemingly insignificant yet potentially game-changing variable of chance in the game of fate, reflecting Nabokov's fascination with the mechanisms of fate.
Is this book suitable as an introduction to Nabokov?
It can serve as one of the introductory choices. Its plot framework is relatively traditional and easy to enter, while fully demonstrating Nabokov's core craft in psychological portrayal, detail control, and ironic narrative. But to appreciate his consummate linguistic art, one still needs to read later works such as Pale Fire, Pnin, or Lolita.

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About the author

Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov Author · Russian-American · 1899–1977

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.

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