The Enchanter

The Enchanter

Nabokov and Happiness

Summary

With sly sophistication and ebullient charm, Lila Azam Zanganeh shares the intoxication of delirious joy to be found in reading - in particular, in reading the masterpieces of 'the great writer of happiness' Vladimir Nabokov.

Plunging into the enchanted and luminous worlds of Speak, Memory; Ada, or Ardor; and the infamous Lolita, Zanganeh seeks out the Nabokovian experience of time, memory, sexual passion, nature, loss, love in all its forms, language in all its allusions. She explores his geography - his Russian childhood, his European sojourns, the landscapes of 'his' America - suffers encounters with his beloved 'nature' hallucinates an interview with the master, and seeks the 'crunch of happiness' in his singular vocabulary. This rhapsodic and beautifully illuminated book will both reignite the passion of experienced lovers of Nabokov's work, and lure the innocent reader to a well of delights.

Reviews

  • 'Happiness writes white - it doesn't show up on the page,' said Henri de Montherlant. This is an aphorism that sounds true but isn't, and the work of Vladimir Nabokov, as Lila Azam Zanganeh so lightly and elegantly shows us, is its great disproof. Her book is a joyful study of the joy that inspired all of Nabokov's art. A beautiful little book which, flitting here and there like the great man's beloved butterflies, delightfully succeeds in netting the butterfly hunter.
    Salman Rushdie

About the author

Lila Azam Zanganeh

Lila Azam Zanganeh is an Iranian-French writer. She is the author of The Enchanter: Nabokov and Happiness and edited a volume of essays by Iranian writers, My Sister Guard Your Veil, My Brother Guard Your Eyes. She was a member of the jury for the 2017 Man Booker Prize for fiction.
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