Отчаяние

"Otchai͡anie" (1934) - shestoĭ roman Vladimira Nabokova, napisannyĭ v Berline, i ego tretiĭ, posle "Koroli͡a, damy, valeta" i "Kamery obskura", psikhologicheski-kriminalʹnyĭ roman, otvergai͡ushchiĭ uslovnosti ėtogo zhanra. German, berlinskiĭ kommersant russko-nemet͡skogo proiskhozhdenii͡a, ubezhdennyĭ v svoeĭ genialʹnosti, zamyshli͡aet prestuplenie, kotoroe, podobno proizvedenii͡u iskusstva, dolzhno statʹ shedevrom izobretatelʹnosti i bezuprechnosti ispolnenii͡a. Zhiznʹ, odnako, okazyvaetsi͡a namnogo ostroumnee i khudozhestvenneĭ porochnogo zamysla, krivoe zerkalo kotorogo lishʹ iskazhaet realʹnostʹ. Forma povestvovanii͡a ot pervogo lit͡sa, vera geroi͡a-rasskazchika v sobstvennui͡u iskli͡uchitelʹnostʹ i blistatelʹnyĭ slog sblizhai͡ut "Otchai͡anie" s napisannoĭ dvadt͡satʹ let spusti͡a "Lolitoĭ".

Despair (1934) is Vladimir Nabokov's sixth novel written in Berlin, and his third, after The King, the Queen, the Jack and Camera Obscura, a psychological crime novel that rejects the conventions of this genre. Herman, a Berlin businessman of Russian-German origin, convinced of his genius, is plotting a crime that, like a work of art, should become a masterpiece of ingenuity and impeccable execution. Life, however, turns out to be much more witty and artistic than a vicious plan, the crooked mirror of which only distorts reality. The first-person narrative form, the narrator's belief in his own exclusivity, and the brilliant style bring Despair closer to Lolita, which was written twenty years later.