Pnin Analysis

It shouldn't be surprising that a book with 300 characters has almost as many settings. But mostly, there is one aspect of all of them that brings them together. They aren't Russia.Pnin's character...

Um…How about first-person omniscient? A character in the story who knows (or says he knows) everything going with everyone else? Okay, don't put that down for a test. We're not responsible for wh...

ComedyThis is the reason why many people who don't appreciate most of Nabokov's works still love Pnin. It's funny! If you ignore all of the creepiness and strange postmodern hallucinations going on...

For the most part, the tone of Pnin is hilarious and warm. It sort of feels like your corny uncle is telling jokes most of the time. So you get things like this: "On the third hand (these mental st...

What would a Nabokov novel be without some literary pyrotechnics? At times while reading Pnin we almost feel like Nabokov is just playing games with his writing ability. That's what we mean by too...

Admit it. You have no idea how to pronounce Pnin. Maybe Peh-neen? Maybe P-uh-niin? Or how about with a silent P? Yeah, that sounds about right.Pnin's name is actually difficult for English speakers...

Well, here it is: "I hurried past the rear truck, and had another glimpse of my old friend, in tense profile, wearing a cap with ear flaps and a storm coat; but next moment the light turned green,...

You'd think that a novel about a guy with bad English would be easier to read. Think again. What with going back and forth in time, the occasional lapses into Russian, and the verbose writing, some...

Pnin is PninianWe meet Professor Timofey Pnin, our lovable and totally awkward protagonist. All you need to know about his situation is that he's a Russian émigré, he's still not quite at home i...

Pnin's story is just too weird to be categorized.If you try to fit Pnin into one of Booker's seven basic plots, you'll find out it's like a puzzle piece that just doesn't fit. Something about it...

Welcome to Pnin landWe meet Pnin, our belovedly strange protagonist, and get to learn everything about him. A lot of his family is dead. He has a heart condition. He's super-duper awkward. His Eng...

Did you know that Pnin might have actually been walking around college campuses? It's thought that a guy named Marc Szeftel is the real Pnin, and there's even a whole novel talking about how Naboko...

Look, we know that you aren't interested in imagining the sexual adventures of an older, balding, Russian gentleman. So you can let out a sigh of relief, because there is absolutely no mention of t...

Aristotle (1.4)Shakespeare (1.4)Hamlet (1.10)Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven (1.10) James Fenimore Cooper (1.10) Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote/ (1.12)Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1.12)Gestal...