The first draft of
Priglashenie na kazn´[
Invitation to a Beheading] was completed (by Nabokov, writing under the name of “V. Sirin”) in June 1934, in what its author described as a “fortnight of wonderful excitement and sustained inspiration”. The novel was a considerable departure for Nabokov, both in content and in style. Its political focus prefigured the English novel
Bend Sinister(1947), and Russian stories such as
Oblako, ozero, bashnia[
Cloud, Castle, Lake, 1937] and
Istreblenie tiranov[
Tyrants Destroyed, 1938]. Critics have commented on its similarity to Kafka’s
The Trial(1925), but it is also reminiscent of Zamiatin’s grim science-fiction fantasy,
We(1920) in theme and form. Inspired by events in the Soviet Union and the rise of fascism in Germany in the 1930s,…
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Citation: Wyllie, Barbara. "Priglashenie na kazn'". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 09 December 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=2576, accessed 21 November 2024.]
