Transparent Things: Amazon.ca: Vladimir Nabokov: Books

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Pnin

by Vladimir Nabokov

4.0 out of 5 stars (36) CDN$ 16.06

Look at the Harlequins!

by Vladimir Nabokov

4.5 out of 5 stars (6)

Invitation to a Beheading

by Vladimir Nabokov

4.1 out of 5 stars (13) CDN$ 12.40

The Gift

by Vladimir Nabokov

4.1 out of 5 stars (12) CDN$ 14.56

› Explore similar items

Product Description

"Transparent Things revolves around the four visits of the hero--sullen, gawky Hugh Person--to Switzerland . . . As a young publisher, Hugh is sent to interview R., falls in love with Armande on the way, wrests her, after multiple humiliations, from a grinning Scandinavian and returns to NY with his bride. . . . Eight years later--following a murder, a period of madness and a brief imprisonment--Hugh makes a lone sentimental journey to wheedle out his past. . . . The several strands of dream, memory, and time [are] set off against the literary theorizing of R. and, more centrally, against the world of observable objects." --Martin Amis --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Tag this product

(What's this?)

Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items.

Customer Reviews

8 Reviews

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

Average Customer Review

4.1 out of 5 stars (8 customer reviews)

Share your thoughts with other customers:

Create your own review

Most helpful customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars powerful and full of texture, yet deliciously brief, May 25 2004

By	Robert J. Crawford (Balmette Talloires, France) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Transparent Things (Paperback)

This is typical brilliant Nabokov, with plenty of detail and mysterious threads laid down throughout that the imaginative can choose to follow or ignore. Because it was written in English rather than translated, Nabokov's prose is at its most powerful and organic - by far. The stories in this are extremely haunting, at least for me, musing on the nature of life after death, among many other themes. It is true genius and you can read it in a single sitting. Get it. You won't be disappointed.

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

3.0 out of 5 stars Unreliable memories, Dec 3 2001

By	A Customer - See all my reviews

This review is from: Transparent Things (Paperback)

Hugh Person returns to Switzerland in order to recapture those significant events in his life which happened or started in Switzerland. Person's past is a difficult one - returning stimulates uncomfortable memories (by this method, Nabokov reveals Person's story to the reader).

I thought that this novella was essentially an exploration of how memory can be invoked by both places and inanimate objects, and how unreliable our memories can be: we tend to elaborate our recollection of past times, actuality and our recall drift apart. It's often a shock when we find things are not quite as we remember them, when we cannot quite recreate what we imagine the past to have been like.

A short, yet interesting novella, reminiscent of Nabokov's earlier works.

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

5.0 out of 5 stars Throw it on the pile of good Nabokov, Nov 4 2001

By	John Cullom (Washington, DC USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Transparent Things (Paperback)

Ok, it's not one of those change your life books like Ada or Lolita, but frankly, if you're considering reading Transparent Things, you've already read those anyway. If you've been burned before by Nabokov, you can trust this one, and better yet, it's 100 pages, so what's the risk? A good rule of thumb is that anything after Lolita is worth the time. Anything before is hit and miss.

Another nice thing is that this is a follow up to Ada and Nabokov's still cranking. There's new philosophical and stylistic ground covered, and one would have thought that there wasn't anything else to cover after the big A. It isn't another love story for the ages, but it's well crafted and entertaining. Oh, and this, unlike most Nabokov doesn't leave you with that, good lord he's a conceited (expletive) feeling.

Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review

› See all 8 customer reviews...

Most recent customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars hear this
Sorry, I hate to be a pedant (but who appreciated passionate pedantry more than Nab?) but I have to correct the reviewer below me and point out that Transparent Things is one of... Read more

Published on Dec 15 2000 by blicero

5.0 out of 5 stars A Lucid Tale of Memory
Hugh Person, an editor for a book publisher, lost in love. But there are things that remind him. Yes, many things. Read more

Published on Jul 31 2000 by rareoopdvds

3.0 out of 5 stars Nabokov's inaccessibility
What _Pale Fire_ and _Lolita_ don't represent about much of Nabokov's work is the fact that it often seems to shut the reader out of its world--or at least leave him/her looking... Read more

Published on Jul 27 2000

3.0 out of 5 stars Neither Nabokov's best ...
nor a good starting point. While stylistically very much in keeping with works such as Lolita and Pale Fire (lyrical, smooth, entertaining, moving. Read more

Published on Jun 29 2000 by Tom Helleberg