Book description
The state has been recently taken over and is being run by the
tyrannical and philistine 'Average Man' party. Under the slogans of
equality and happiness for all, it has done away with individualism and
freedom of thought. Only John Krug, a brilliant philosopher, stands up
to the regime. His antagonist, the leader of the new party, is his old
school enemy, Paduk - known as the 'Toad'. Grieving over his wife's
recent death, Krug is at first dismissive of Paduk's activities and sees
no threat in them. But the sinister machine which Paduk has set in
motion may prove stronger than the individual, stronger even than the
grotesque 'Toad' himself. Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977) was one of the
great writers of the twentieth century, as well as a translator and
lepidopterist. His works include, from the Russian novels,
The Luzhin Defense
and The Gift
; from the English novels, Lolita
, Pnin
, Pale Fire
and Ada
; the autobiographical Speak, Memory
; translations of Alice in Wonderland
into Russian and Eugene Onegin
into English; and lectures on literature. All of the fiction and
Speak, Memory
are published in Penguin.
