‘pnin’

Vladimir Nabokov

BOOK REVIEW

This is one of the most bizarre, delightfully odd books I've read...

Pnin follows the (mis)adventures of Timofey Pnin, a Russian professor who galumphs through life at a fictional college in America. He is presented as an outsider - the "émigré" - having fled his home during the Russian Revolution. But, far from your average dark academia or campus novel, Pnin is a comedic star down to his bones.

Kind-hearted and slapstick, he's a man with a "gurgling laugh" and... a fetish for squirrels. One bizarre moment in the book sees him quench the thirst of a diva-esque squirrel who insists on drinking from the communal water fountain (who is Pnin to refuse ).

Constantly, Pnin totters along the precipice of a breakdown, existing in a state of exasperation. The poor guy cannot catch a break - from missed trains and smashed plates, to a departmental coup d'etat that sees him lose his job. We root for him, regardless.

Its first few chapters were published as short stories in the New Yorker magazine around the mid-1950s - but Nabokov was adamant it should be read as a complete novel... I disagree, respectfully. It feels so episodic and disjointed (until the last few chapters when a more conventional narrative kicks in, and the anonymous narrator is revealed. So it takes a while to get into - even then, there are sections that are tedious. The narrator has a grandiose style which is intended to be comical, but it's sometimes quite weary to read - i.e. a dictionary is an "elephantine lexicon", and spoken phrases are "verbal vagaries".

But what I really loved about the book is Nabakov's incredible characterisations, as well as his descriptions of everyday minutiae - whether it's a washing machine or a pencil sharpener, he approaches banal objects with a child-like wonder.

Doing the washing up, he describes as "a bubble bath in the sink for the dishes". And the sight of laundry in a washing machine, "through the porthole. an endless tumble of dolphins with the staggers". Also, I won't give it away but the narrator reveal is genius, sneaky, and leaves you questioning everything you've just read…