Books Vladimir Nabokov taught, praised and despised
The novels and stories Vladimir Nabokov taught at Cornell and Harvard, from his Lectures on Literature, Russian Literature and Don Quixote, and the books he singled out in Strong Opinions as masterpieces or as worthless.
25 books
Books by Vladimir Nabokov →The best-known books on the list
- Don Quixote
Don QuixoteMiguel de Cervantes - Madame Bovary
Madame BovaryGustave Flaubert - Anna Karenina
Anna KareninaLeo Tolstoy - Crime and Punishment
Crime and PunishmentFyodor Dostoevsky - Mansfield Park
Mansfield ParkJane Austen - Metamorphosis
MetamorphosisFranz Kafka - Notes from Underground
Notes from UndergroundFyodor Dostoevsky - Swann's Way
Swann's WayMarcel Proust - Ulysses
UlyssesJames Joyce - The Idiot
The IdiotFyodor Dostoevsky - Bleak House
Bleak HouseCharles Dickens - The Brothers Karamazov
The Brothers KaramazovFyodor Dostoevsky - The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. HydeRobert Louis Stevenson - Dead Souls
Dead SoulsNikolai Gogol - The Seagull
The SeagullAnton Chekhov - Fathers and Sons
Fathers and SonsIvan Turgenev - The Death of Ivan Ilyich
The Death of Ivan IlyichLeo Tolstoy - Demons
DemonsFyodor Dostoevsky - In Search of Lost Time
In Search of Lost TimeMarcel Proust - The Lady with the Dog
The Lady with the DogAnton Chekhov - The Overcoat
The OvercoatNikolai Gogol - Petersburg
PetersburgAndrei Bely - In the Ravine
In the RavineAnton Chekhov
All 25 books, by author
- AMansfield Park · Jane Austen
- BPetersburg · Andrei Bely · loved it
- CDon Quixote · Miguel de Cervantes
- In the Ravine · Anton Chekhov
- The Lady with the Dog · Anton Chekhov
- The Seagull · Anton Chekhov
- DBleak House · Charles Dickens
- Crime and Punishment · Fyodor Dostoevsky
- Demons · Fyodor Dostoevsky
- Notes from Underground · Fyodor Dostoevsky
- The Brothers Karamazov · Fyodor Dostoevsky
- The Idiot · Fyodor Dostoevsky
- FMadame Bovary · Gustave Flaubert
adultery being a most conventional way to rise above the conventional
(Lectures on Literature (1980), "Madame Bovary", via Wikiquote) - GDead Souls · Nikolai Gogol
- The Overcoat · Nikolai Gogol
- JUlysses · James Joyce · loved it
- KMetamorphosis · Franz Kafka · loved it
- MDeath in Venice · Thomas Mann · despised it
Mann’s asinine Death in Venice
(Strong Opinions (1973), p. 57, via Wikiquote) - PDoctor Zhivago · Boris Pasternak · despised it
Pasternak’s melodramatic and vilely written Zhivago
(Strong Opinions (1973), p. 57, via Wikiquote) - In Search of Lost Time · Marcel Proust · loved it
- Swann's Way · Marcel Proust
- SThe Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde · Robert Louis Stevenson
- TAnna Karenina · Leo Tolstoy
- The Death of Ivan Ilyich · Leo Tolstoy
- Fathers and Sons · Ivan Turgenev
Titles we couldn't find (1)
These are on the list too, but they have no page here yet.
- On the Rafts · Maxim Gorky · no copy found online