However, at the end of his account, he wants to make sure of that he is surprised. No matter, thinks the young man, since I am dead. He falls in love with a woman who spurns him. He becomes interested in an individual named Smournov, whom he spies on. Nonetheless, he continues his story, as if death could not prevent him from it. Nabokov’s first novel, written in the first person, The Eye, tells the story of a young immigrant, of his life.īut very soon, the young man dies - kills himself out of love. “The fundamental turn in Nabokov’s work is the year 1930 with The Eye (Sogliadatai), which Berberova considers to be the first mature text, where he manages to free himself from the old canons.” (B. Without a doubt, this copy comes from the personal collection of the author who offered it to his wife. Rare first edition of “The Eye” by Nabokov, an offprint of the Russian emigrants in Paris review Sovremennyia Zapiski. contrôle des informations” on the spine, insulated wrappers. Offprint from Sovremennyie Zapiski (Paris), XLIV (Novembre 1930).Ĩvo of 62 pp. The author’s personal copy of Sogliadatai,īearing the same seal from the French customs. The New York Public Library owns a matching copy, When they fled Nazism from Paris to New York, in 1940. Reveals that this copy followed the Nabokovs

The stamp from the “Contrôle des informations” of the French customs The personal copy of Vera Nabokov given to her by the author, her husband. Rare first edition of the The Eye by Nabokov.

The Eye by Vladimir Nabokov