Pnin

Author: Vladimir Nabokov

Rating: ⭐ 5/5

Date Read: 2012/09/27

Pages: 193

Pnin is an interesting little book. It’s about academia and academic politics, and it’s also about the immigrant experience, but it is not fully about either of these topics. The main character, a Russian emigre turned professor by the name of Timofey Pnin, whose error-laden English contrasts with his erudite thoughts about Russian literature.

Many Americans consider the U.S. to be the best country in the entire world (and, possibly, the entire universe, provided the universe includes other intelligent lifeforms that have organized themselves into countries). Pnin, however, longs to be back in Russia, which no longer existed the way it did for him as a child. Barring that, he would rather be in France, a country he is forced to flee after the “Hitler War.” In one particularly evocative scene, Pnin imagines that his current residence is one, not in New England, but in suburban Russia. He imagines that he teaches Russian students, instead of the entitled American students he’s stuck with. In this one moment, he is truly happy.

At this point, I should mention that, while Nabokov wrote a funny book, but it shouldn’t be regarded as anything less than a tragedy.

Nabokov’s narrators tend to be interesting, and this narrator is no exception. He knows Pnin, but does not divulge much about himself until the last chapter. He never gives his name, although I suspect the narrator is some version of Nabokov himself.