Pnin (1957)
Pnin is a 1957 fiction book written by Vladimir Nabokov and Enrique Murillo.
Timofey Pnin is a Russian emigre professor teaching at a small American college, and almost nothing goes smoothly for him. He boards the wrong train, mangles English idioms, fusses over his shabby lodgings, and carries the losses of exile with a dignity that keeps tipping into farce. Nabokov's 1957 novel, his fourth written in English, treats this gentle, bumbling man with a comedy that never curdles into cruelty. Behind the laughter sits the weight of the Russian Revolution and the war that scattered his world. The prose is precise, affectionate, and quietly devastating.
Quick answers
What is Pnin about?
Timofey Pnin is a Russian emigre professor teaching at a small American college, and almost nothing goes smoothly for him. He boards the wrong train, mangles English idioms, fusses over his shabby lodgings, and carries the losses of exile with a dignity that keeps tipping into farce. Nabokov's 1957 novel, his fourth written in English, treats this gentle, bumbling man with a comedy that never curdles into cruelty. Behind the laughter sits the weight of the Russian Revolution and the war that scattered his world. The prose is precise, affectionate, and quietly devastating.
When was Pnin published?
Pnin was published in 1957.
Who made Pnin?
Pnin was written by Vladimir Nabokov and Enrique Murillo.
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A few thoughts on Pnin
Readers charmed by Vladimir Nabokov's blend of comedy and exile can watch his own most famous story reach the screen in Stanley Kubrick's Lolita, which carries the same sly, precise voice into film.