The Cartesian Nightmare of Despair

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents vii
3. Acknowledgments ix
4. Introduction xi
5. Part 1 The Fifth Arc
6. Nabokov: A Portrait 3
7. Nabokov's Critical Strategy 22
8. A Few Things That Must Be Said on Behalf of Vladimir Nabokov 35
9. Toward the Man behind the Mystification 43
10. Part 2 The First and Second Arcs
11. Nabokov's Assault on Wonderland 63
12. The Conjuror in "The Potato Elf" 75
13. The Cartesian Nightmare of Despair 82
14. Invitation to a Beheading and the Many Shades of Kafka 105
15. Part 3 The Third Arc
16. Focus Pocus: Film Imagery in Bend Sinister 125
17. Deciphering "Signs and Symbols" 139
18. Humbert Humbert and the Limits of Artistic License 153
19. Parody and Authenticity in Lolita 171
20. Postscript to the Russian Edition of Lolita 188
21. Pnin: The Wonder of Recurrence and Transformation 195
22. Part 4 The Fourth Arc
23. Pale Fire: The Art of Consciousness 213
24. Speak, Memory: The Aristocracy of Art 224
25. Ada or Disorder 230
26. Notes to Ada by Vivian Darkbloom 242
27. Notes to Vivian Darkbloom's Notes to Ada 260
28. The Problem of Text: Nabokov's Last Two Novels 296
29. Notes on Contributors 309
30. Bibliography 313