The Luzhin Defense
Translator - Michael Scammell
Penguin Classics
Paperback
: 29 Jun 2000
£12.00
Synopsis
Nabokov said of his chess-playing genius Luzhin, that despite his coarseness and grubby plainness, he is a lovable creation. Discovering his prodigious gift in boyhood, rising to the rank of international Grandmaster, Luzhin develops a lyrical passion for chess that renders the real world a phantom. As he confronts the fiery, swift-swooping Italian Grandmaster, Turati, he brings into play his carefully-devised defence. Making masterly play of metaphor and imagery, The Luzhin Defense is the book that, of his early works, Nabokov felt 'contains and diffuses the greatest warmth'.
Reviews
Customer Review: 23 October 2008
Reviewer: Montana
'This was the first of Nabokov''s books I read. Fantastic. Nobody creates obsessions better than "V. Sirin". '
» Submit a reviewCritic Review:
‘Nabokov twins technical brilliance with an undismissable appeal to the emotions’ Daily Telegraph
‘Metaphor and matter merge … astoundingly and beautifully’ John Updike


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