Name: Invitation to a Beheading
Rating: 4.014705882352941 (34 reviews)
ISBN: 9780679725312

Vladimir Nabokov

As the judge whispers the death sentence to Cincinnatus, a torturous period of waiting begins

Invitation to a Beheading

doesn't reach the heights of pale fire for me and it overstays its welcome a bit, but its effect is incredible. nabokov slays at a sentence-level and that ending is superb. spider.

alice

Karpe Diez

This story is immersed in absurdity. Set in a town outside geography and time, with norms and rules fringing on the bizarreness. The convict is the only one in the jail, charged with an unclear offense, never given a due date on his execution. His only problem, actually, seems to be that… he is the only one realizing the irrationality of everything that happens. In spite of the unavoidable interactions between the two, from a reasoning point of view, the main hero is in an universe completely parallel to the one of all the other characters. His only hope of reconciling with his wife and finding out when he would be executed are constantly denied up to the point where he gives up. He is trying to maintain sanity by keeping himself in a passive state but he is constantly challenged by the other characters to provide positive feedback to their so-called efforts in making his remaining time “pleasant”. Super-interesting reading but can become hard to read due to the overload of feelings and futility in front of fate.

Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov

Michael Scammell

Luzhin's prodigious talent at chess earns him the title of grandmaster, but his passion soon leads to obsession, and his world falls apart during a championship match when his defense fades under his opponent's surprising strategy.

A Novel

The Defense

Amna A.

A story of an ill fated chess genius. This quote by Oscar Levant pretty much sums it up: 

"There's a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line."

Written in Berlin in 1934, Invitation to a Beheading contains all the surprise, excitement and magical intensity of a work created in two brief weeks of sustained inspiration. It takes us into the fantastic prison-world of Cincinnatus, a man condemned to death and spending his last days in prison not quite knowing when the end will come. Nabokov described the book as ‘a violin in a void. The worldling will deem it a trick. Old men will hurriedly turn from it to regional romances and the lives of public figures ... The evil-minded will perceive in little Emmie a sister of little Lolita ... But I know a few readers who will jump up, ruffling their hair’.

Invitation to a Beheading

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