Literary+Criticism

// As a celebrated 20th-century novelist, // // Nabokov has garnered // // a great deal of literary criticism. // // We've provided some links to get you started. // . . . . ||
 * > [[image:http://www.nytimes.com/books/99/04/25/specials/nabokov.4.jpg align="left" caption="photograph by Jean Vong" link="@http://www.nytimes.com/books/99/04/25/specials/nabokov.html"]] ||>           . . . . . **Literary Criticism**

** General | //Lolita// | //Pale Fire// | Other Works **

** General ** **// Articles and Essays //**
 * Behind the Glass Pane: Vladimir Nabokov's "Perfection" and Transcendence
 * //written by Annette Wiesner// | This article explores Nabokov's spiritual beliefs as expressed through his fiction. The article is offered online through the free archives of the International Fiction Review.
 * A Bibliography of Nabokov: E. Articles and Essays (General)
 * // compiled by Dieter E. Zimmer and Jeff Edmunds | // This extensive list of published literary criticism on Nabokov's works is useful for anyone with access to an academic library (or a public library with access to many databases). Most of the papers are not available for free, and only those published before 2002 are included.

//** Books **//


 * A Bibliography of Nabokov: D. Books and Dissertations (General)
 * // compiled by Dieter E. Zimmer and Jeff Edmunds | // This list of books and dissertations of literary criticism of Nabokov is helpful for collections of essays and more extensive examinations of Nabokov's works. For unpublished theses or dissertations, you will most likely need access to an academic library.
 * //The Cambridge Companion to Nabokov// (Amazon | Google Books)
 * //edited by Julian W. Connolly// | This book, one of the Cambridge Companions to Literature series, collects fourteen essays on Nabokov's writing and works (with a special focus on //Lolita//). The essays, taken together, serve as a useful introduction to Nabokov and his works.
 * //Style Is Matter: The Moral Art of Vladimir Nabokov// (Amazon)
 * //written by Leland de la Durantaye// | This book examines the ethics of Nabokov's works, asking whether there is a moral message to be found within them. The main focus is on //Lolita//, with attention also being paid to //Speak, Memory// and //Pale Fire//. de la Durantaye also looks at the ethics of Nabokov's fiction through the lens of his nonfiction writings.

//** Lolita **// **// Articles and Essays //**
 * The Poerotic Novel: Nabokov's "Lolita" and "Ada"
 * //written by Maurice Couturier// | This book chapter, available for free online, examines the portrayal of eroticism in Nabokov's novels //Lolita// and //Ada//. Couturier also looks at the resulting censorship, from governments to Nabokov's self-censorship.
 * The Cinematic Art of Nympholepsy: Movie Star Culture as Loser Culture in Nabokov's Lolita
 * //written by Elizabeth Power// | This essay looks at the novel //Lolita//'s inclusion of movies and the movie industry, making the point that the difficulties various filmed versions of //Lolita// have run into is mirrored by Nabokov's opinion of Hollywood and its culture as a whole.
 * A Bibliography of Critical Works on Lolita
 * // compiled by Dieter E. Zimmer and Jeff Edmunds | // This extensive list of published literary criticism on // Lolita // is useful for anyone with access to an academic library (or a public library with access to many databases). Most of the papers are not available for free, and only those published before 2002 are included.

//** Books **//


 * //Chasing Lolita: How Popular Culture Corrupted Nabokov's Little Girl All Over Again// (Amazon | Google Books)
 * //written by Graham Vickers// | This book examines the treatment of //Lolita// in popular culture, ranging from direct adaptations to the far-reaching influence of the character outside the story itself. The book intertwines literary criticism with film criticism and pop culture criticism, comparing the original character of Lolita with popular perceptions of her since the novel was published.
 * //Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita: A Casebook (//Amazon | Google Books)
 * //edited by Ellen Pifer// | This book of nine essays, along with an interview with Nabokov, looks at various aspects of Lolita from criticism of the work itself to criticism of Lolita in popular culture.

//** Pale Fire **// **// Articles and Essays //**
 * Genius and Plausibility: Suspension of Disbelief in "Pale Fire"
 * //written by J. Morris// | This essay discusses the necessity of suspending disbelief when a first-person narrator writes as well as a professional author in regards to the narrator of //Pale Fire.// Morris wonders whether or not this convention holds in the case of this work and how it affects the narrative.
 * My Potential Patients: Origins, Detection, and Transference in "Pale Fire" and Freud's "Case of the Wolf-Man"
 * //written by David G. Cohen |// This essay examines Nabokov's aversion to Sigmund Freud and psychoanalysis as expressed in Nabokov's //Pale Fire//. Cohen focuses on the parallels between //Pale Fire// and Freud's account //The Case of the Wolf-Man//.
 * A Bibliography of Critical Works on Pale Fire
 * // compiled by Dieter E. Zimmer and Jeff Edmunds | // This list of published literary criticism on // Pale Fire // is useful for anyone with access to an academic library (or a public library with access to many databases). Most of the papers are not available for free, and only those published before 2001 are included.

//** Books **//


 * //Nabokov's "Pale Fire": The Magic of Artistic Discovery// (Amazon | Google Books)
 * //written by Brian Boyd |// This book examines the controversial //Pale Fire//, arguing that the novel is far more important than many critics believe. According to Boyd, Pale Fire is a genius "reflection on the whole history of literature."

** Other Works **
 * Vladimir Nabokov, A Bibliography of Criticism
 * // compiled by Dieter E. Zimmer and Jeff Edmund | // Bibliographies of Nabokov's works are located under the Individual Works heading. Most articles must be accessed through a library subscribing to the journal that published them.
 * Zembla: Criticism
 * //written by various// | A collection of both original and previously published criticism, available for free.