Lance: Vladimir Nabokov (Penguin Modern)

I loved the first two. I've only read Lolita before this, but will be giving Nabokov another go. Beautiful imagery, skilful writing, a lovely sense of emotion.Hated the last one, mind.

This is a member of the Penguin Moderns series, which are true pocket-sized books. It has 52 small pages made up of three short stories, all written by Vladimir Nabokov. These were taken from existing Penguin Modern Classics (1). The stories are: The Aurelian, Signs and Symbols and Lance.The AurelianThe Aurelian (2) was written in Russian in Berlin in 1931. An old man has survived a stroke and continues to lead a dull, colourless life running a shop in Berlin. His shop sells moths and butterflies but demand and profit for these items is low so he also sells stationery. He has never left Berlin and its environs, but his passion has always been moths and butterflies and this has brought colour and the idea of exotic places to his life. Due to a dishonest action he has acquired a modest sum which will allow him at least one exotic trip to chase butterflies. But is it too late? Nabokov was a noted lepidopterist.Signs and SymbolsSigns and Symbols (3) was written in English in Boston in 1948. An old couple are preparing to visit their young son at the sanatorium on his birthday. He is clinically deranged (4). At the sanatorium they are told that their son has tried to take his own life again, and they are not permitted to see him. They go home, taking their birthday gift with them. Their mood is sombre. On their return home the husband says “We must get him out of there quick”. The wife agrees, quietly. “All right. We shall bring him home tomorrow morning.” However . . .LanceLance was written in 1952. It was Nabokov’s last short story. It was written before the start of the actual space age but at a time when the  amazing stories  of science fiction were common. This may explain why Nabokov starts with a series of exclusions from normal science fiction (5). The story’s narrator talks about his descendants, old Mr Boke and his only son Emery Lancelot Boke. This son, Lance, is twenty-one and is to be a member of the first interplanetary expedition. Their son leaves home to go on the expedition. From this point onwards I cannot understand the rest of the story. It seems to be a mash-up of chivalric romances, the imaginings of his parents of Lance’s experiences, their son’s experience of mortality and immortality and  the Clangers .___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________(1) The stories are available in the Penguin Modern Classics  Nabokov’s Dozen  and  Collected Stories .(2) The  Aurelian  was an 18th century publication of “a natural history of English moths, and butterflies”. Nabokov was fascinated by butterflies. See  Nabokov's Butterflies .(3) The title “Signs and Symbols” refers to the type of delusional perceptions suffered by their son. The opening paragraph is “For the fourth time in as many years they were confronted with the problem of what birthday present to bring a young man who was incurably deranged in his mind. He had no desires. Man-made objects were to him either hives of evil, vibrant with malignant activity that he alone could perceive, or gross comforts for which no use could be found in his abstract world.”(4) Nabokov says their son has referential mania. The term 'referential delusions' refers to the mistaken belief that ordinary events and normal human behaviour have hidden meanings that somehow relate to the individual experiencing the delusions.(5) The short story begins “The name of the planet, presuming it has already received one, is immaterial.”. Other exclusions are: “I not only debar a too definite planet from any role in my story . . . I also refuse to have anything to do with those technical prophecies that scientists are reported to make to reporters. . . Another thing I have not the slightest use for is the special-equipment business – the air-tight suit, the oxygen apparatus – such-like contraptions. . . . Finally, I utterly spurn and reject so-called science-fiction.”

I was expecting something a bit more from this, mainly because Nabokov has an impressive literary reputation. This was an okay read but I doubt I’ll remember it in a month or so. But it’s a nice little taster, I guess.