r/Nabokov

I had gotten myself 2 of nabokovs books; lolita and pale fire.
Reading them, it gave the feeling that these books are not the best starting point, and so I haven't finished them and plan to read them after getting more use to his writing.

Lolita, well Lolia; ignoring the subject, from what I read the prose are so dense but also easy to follow, its straight forward but confusing.

Pale fire is, well the prose are a lot easier to comprehend, the actual subject is impossible to comprehend, but oddly enough easy to follow, I have no clue how he does that.

I believe every writer has a book, or paper that acts as the perfect entry for the writer, they tend to be the more nicher works, and I really wonder, what would Nabokovs be? A thing that embodies his stories in a way thats easy to approach, I know dam well these 2 books are not the one

I’m interested in this book, I’d like to have a copy that will help me comprehend as much as possible.

From what i’m aware of the text contains foreign sentences and a bunch of references i won’t grasp, if there’s a version that goes out of its way to clear all that up i’d really appreciate someone here to point me towards it, if there isn’t one worth mentioning, may i be pointed towards a version that you guys recommend?
I appreciate it lots.

The best cover ever designed for Lolita is a picture of a ceiling.

For decades cover artists got Lolita wrong. They reduced a story of child abuse to a 'teenage sexpot' fantasy. They ignored Nabokov’s own request:
"No girls on the cover!"

https://preview.redd.it/u3rjm9n2dath1.png?width=1200&format=png&auto=webp&s=b2de0758e206320f1e3e5b38405343fd54c7e79a

In 2009, architect John Bertram decided to challenge the status quo. He launched a competition to reclaim the novel's dignity. 80 top-tier designers entered.

One of the most celebrated entries came from Jamie Keenan.

Jamie Keenan

Keenan is a co-founder of the Academy of British Cover Design (ABCD) and a master of cover art. He designed hundreds of book covers for major publishers and authors.

This was his entry:

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov; Cover art by Jamie Keenan

Take a second. Do you see it?

“Wait... is that a...?"

Relax. It's just a room corner. You're the one making it weird.

Keenan calls this the Ju-Jitsu Theory.

https://preview.redd.it/821incf8dath1.png?width=1002&format=png&auto=webp&s=ab49c76750f6bc6a89948de2f98caf9dc5acc4d0

It is #13 of Keenan and Jon Gray’s 20 Theories for attracting readers: It uses your own momentum against you.

It was you who projected the image.

You became the voyeur.

Notice the small, quiet font. By keeping it small, Keenan ensures your eyes stay on the empty room. It helps turning you into the protagonist you should hate.

>“The opponent, the cover, forces a view or conception upon the defender, the reader.”
— Jamie Keenan