A master literary sleuth unearths Nabokov’s life from his work

On the eve of the controversial, posthumous publication of The Original of Laura, Michael Maar follows his critically acclaimed The Two Lolitas with a revealing new perspective on Vladimir Nabokov’s life and work. Hunting down long-hidden clues in the novels, and using the themes that run through Nabokov’s fiction to illuminate the life that produced them, Maar constructs a compelling psychological and philosophical portrait. Characteristically graceful and engaging, Speak, Nabokov offers a vital new perspective on the twentieth- century master.

Praise for the German edition of Speak, Nabokov

“Michael Maar has mastered the art of deciphering Nabokov’s books.” — Neue Zücher Zeitung

“In this brilliant book on the life and death of Vladimir Nabokov, Michael Maar once more proves himself to be a literary detective.” — Weltwoche

Michael Maar has taught at Stanford University and is a member of two German academies. A leading literary critic, he now lives in Berlin. Ross Benjamin is a translator of German literature and a writer living in New York. His work has appeared in the New York Times, the Times Literary Supplement, Bookforum, the Nation, and other publications. His translations of Friedrich Hölderlin's Hyperion (Archipelago Books) and Kevin Vennemann’s Close to Jedenew (Melville House) were published in 2008.