What do you think?
Rate this book
Cloud, Castle, Lake
56 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
12 people are currently reading
454 people want to read
About the author
Vladimir Nabokov
893 books15k followersVladimir Nabokov (Russian: Владимир Набоков) was a writer defined by a life of forced movement and extraordinary linguistic transformation. Born into a wealthy, liberal aristocratic family in St. Petersburg, Russia, he grew up trilingual, speaking Russian, English, and French in a household that nurtured his intellectual curiosities, including a lifelong passion for butterflies. This seemingly idyllic, privileged existence was abruptly shattered by the Bolshevik Revolution, which forced the family into permanent exile in 1919. This early, profound experience of displacement and the loss of a homeland became a central, enduring theme in his subsequent work, fueling his exploration of memory, nostalgia, and the irretrievable past.
The first phase of his literary life began in Europe, primarily in Berlin, where he established himself as a leading voice among the Russian émigré community under the pseudonym "Vladimir Sirin". During this prolific period, he penned nine novels in his native tongue, showcasing a precocious talent for intricate plotting and character study. Works like The Defense explored obsession through the extended metaphor of chess, while Invitation to a Beheading served as a potent, surreal critique of totalitarian absurdity. In 1925, he married Véra Slonim, an intellectual force in her own right, who would become his indispensable partner, editor, translator, and lifelong anchor.
The escalating shadow of Nazism necessitated another, urgent relocation in 1940, this time to the United States. It was here that Nabokov undertook an extraordinary linguistic metamorphosis, making the challenging yet resolute shift from Russian to English as his primary language of expression. He became a U.S. citizen in 1945, solidifying his new life in North America. To support his family, he took on academic positions, first founding the Russian department at Wellesley College, and later serving as a highly regarded professor of Russian and European literature at Cornell University from 1948 to 1959.
During this academic tenure, he also dedicated significant time to his other great passion: lepidoptery. He worked as an unpaid curator of butterflies at Harvard University's Museum of Comparative Zoology. His scientific work was far from amateurish; he developed novel taxonomic methods and a groundbreaking, highly debated theory on the migration patterns and phylogeny of the Polyommatus blue butterflies, a hypothesis that modern DNA analysis confirmed decades later.
Nabokov achieved widespread international fame and financial independence with the publication of Lolita in 1955, a novel that was initially met with controversy and censorship battles due to its provocative subject matter concerning a middle-aged literature professor and his obsession with a twelve-year-old girl. The novel's critical and commercial success finally allowed him to leave teaching and academia behind. In 1959, he and Véra moved permanently to the quiet luxury of the Montreux Palace Hotel in Switzerland, where he focused solely on writing, translating his earlier Russian works into meticulous English, and studying local butterflies.
His later English novels, such as Pale Fire (1962), a complex, postmodern narrative structured around a 999-line poem and its delusional commentator, cemented his reputation as a master stylist and a technical genius. His literary style is characterized by intricate wordplay, a profound use of allusion, structural complexity, and an insistence on the artist's total, almost tyrannical, control over their created world. Nabokov often expressed disdain for what he termed "topical trash" and the simplistic interpretations of Freudian psychoanalysis, preferring instead to focus on the power of individual consciousness, the mechanics of memory, and the intricate, often deceptive, interplay between art and perceived "reality". His unique body of work, straddling multiple cultures and languages, continues to
The first phase of his literary life began in Europe, primarily in Berlin, where he established himself as a leading voice among the Russian émigré community under the pseudonym "Vladimir Sirin". During this prolific period, he penned nine novels in his native tongue, showcasing a precocious talent for intricate plotting and character study. Works like The Defense explored obsession through the extended metaphor of chess, while Invitation to a Beheading served as a potent, surreal critique of totalitarian absurdity. In 1925, he married Véra Slonim, an intellectual force in her own right, who would become his indispensable partner, editor, translator, and lifelong anchor.
The escalating shadow of Nazism necessitated another, urgent relocation in 1940, this time to the United States. It was here that Nabokov undertook an extraordinary linguistic metamorphosis, making the challenging yet resolute shift from Russian to English as his primary language of expression. He became a U.S. citizen in 1945, solidifying his new life in North America. To support his family, he took on academic positions, first founding the Russian department at Wellesley College, and later serving as a highly regarded professor of Russian and European literature at Cornell University from 1948 to 1959.
During this academic tenure, he also dedicated significant time to his other great passion: lepidoptery. He worked as an unpaid curator of butterflies at Harvard University's Museum of Comparative Zoology. His scientific work was far from amateurish; he developed novel taxonomic methods and a groundbreaking, highly debated theory on the migration patterns and phylogeny of the Polyommatus blue butterflies, a hypothesis that modern DNA analysis confirmed decades later.
Nabokov achieved widespread international fame and financial independence with the publication of Lolita in 1955, a novel that was initially met with controversy and censorship battles due to its provocative subject matter concerning a middle-aged literature professor and his obsession with a twelve-year-old girl. The novel's critical and commercial success finally allowed him to leave teaching and academia behind. In 1959, he and Véra moved permanently to the quiet luxury of the Montreux Palace Hotel in Switzerland, where he focused solely on writing, translating his earlier Russian works into meticulous English, and studying local butterflies.
His later English novels, such as Pale Fire (1962), a complex, postmodern narrative structured around a 999-line poem and its delusional commentator, cemented his reputation as a master stylist and a technical genius. His literary style is characterized by intricate wordplay, a profound use of allusion, structural complexity, and an insistence on the artist's total, almost tyrannical, control over their created world. Nabokov often expressed disdain for what he termed "topical trash" and the simplistic interpretations of Freudian psychoanalysis, preferring instead to focus on the power of individual consciousness, the mechanics of memory, and the intricate, often deceptive, interplay between art and perceived "reality". His unique body of work, straddling multiple cultures and languages, continues to
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews
October 16, 2021
source
I came to know about the story just yesterday, thanks to its review by one of my Goodreads’s friends- Vesna. Though I have not read much of Vladimir Nabokov but I am aware of his narrative abilities and his penchant for literary style. The short story displays some of the traits Nabokov is famous for. It starts with a representative of the narrator winning a pleasure trip at a charity ball given by Russian refugees. Vasili Ivanovich, the representative, has to go on the trip due to bureau of pleasantries, though he himself starts imaging the trip a night before the scheduled departure that the trip would bring him some wonderful, tremulous happiness. Here, the author mentions happiness is linked with childhood, Russian lyrical poetry, some beautiful landscape, and the lady whom Vasili loved hopelessly for seven years.
The story could be said to be a sort of plea for individualism against collectivism, we see how Vasili struggles for his individual experiences against social coercion, perhaps underlines dehumanizing effects of our community. The tyranny of humanity on individualism is quite evident in the story, as we see that trip members keep on troubling Vasili throughout the trip through various mocks, bullies, and tyrannical behavior. The members of the trip fused together as if they amalgamated into one single being from which it is impossible to escape for Vasili.
The beauty of nature has been described in a very poetic and vivid manner as each landscape and scene get itched in your memory instantly, the prose of the story is so clear and lyrical that you feel as if you are experiencing these natural beauties through in-person experience. There have been quite a few descriptions of natural beauty but one which stands out is about the lake, it has been described so beautifully that you feel the mystifying calmness and serene purity of the lake through the prose. It was a pure, blue lake, with an unusual expression of its water. In the middle, a large cloud was reflected in its entirety. On the other side, on a hill thickly covered with verdure (and the darker the verdure, the more poetic it is), towered, arising from dactyl to dactyl, an ancient black castle. The cloud, castle, and the lake inspire Vasili so much that he decides to stay there forever as he finds what he is looking for in life. He decides to distance himself from tyranny rather than condemning it.
The other members of the group do not allow Vasili to stay there, their tyrannical behavior denies Vasili what he craves for the first time in life but more than anything else. We see the attack of humanity on the individuality of man, the oppressive attitude of our ‘society’ deprives a man of love of his life or his life itself. It also shows the blindness of other members of the group towards the beauty of nature as they could not see what Vasili could.
The elements of irony are quite expertly infused with the tyrannical behavior of people to give it a taste of black humor. Vasili is forced to play some nonsensical game in the train which he loses and he has to eat a cigarette butt. There is another example of it, when the group forces Vasili to go back to Germany against his wish, as soon as they board the train, all of them beat him and they really enjoy it. As soon as everyone had got into the car and the train had pulled off, they began to beat him—they beat him a long time, and with a good deal of inventiveness. It occurred to them, among other things, to use a corkscrew on his palms; then on his feet. The post-office clerk, who had been to Russia, fashioned a knout out of a stick and a belt, and began to use it with devilish dexterity. Atta boy! The other men relied more on their iron heels, whereas the women were satisfied to pinch and to slap. All had a wonderful time.
The story seems to explore the themes which are normally associated with the works of Nabokov, namely memory as in search of Russia which has been lost, the natural bliss-aesthetic beauties, and love, unrequited one. As Vasili thinks a night before the trip- This happiness would have something in common with his childhood, and with the excitement aroused in him by Russian lyrical poetry … and with that lady … whom he had hopelessly loved for seven years.
The author takes a unique narrative style in the story in the sense that the narrator first introduces the characters of the story to the reader and thereby takes a back seat as if it is a non-existent narrator, though he keeps on reminding about his presence through small interjections in the story but never really fully express himself. But at the end of the story, he takes the reins and abruptly changes the atmosphere of the story towards a more humane outcome. Overall, it is a great story with many layers and embedded themes which demand a careful contemplative approach.
The story could be read here:-link
4/5
Read
November 16, 20213.5 stars rounded off to 4
In the Berlin of the late 1930s, a Russian refugee, Vasili Ivanovich, wins a pleasure trip at a charity ball. It is a different, otherworldly Germany with a "Bureau of Pleasantrips" and enforced pleasure trips which require bureaucratic rigmarole to get out of. Such Kafkaesque absurdities turn this involuntary expedition into an offer Vasili cannot refuse. The seemingly harmless communal excursion transforms into a "hideous fairy tale" for this reserved bachelor whose mild individuality is pulverized by the depraved hand of collective pressure. Nabokov gives an oblique nod to the Nazi era by portraying the brewing horror of those years through social oppression of Vasili, an insignificant, nondescript individual whose very name the narrator cannot recall with certainty.
For me, not an extraordinary work in itself but I enjoyed the seductive spell of poetic language, charming literary devices, and delightful descriptions - the dazzling fireworks of the choicest weapons from the author's arsenal. You can always count on Nabokov for a fancy prose style. Bear with me for some time as I cannot get the cadence of the writing out of my head. In my imagination, Nabokov might have smiled smugly after creating these tiny jingles; it is such a pleasure to say them out loud.
The lens of physicality has been used to symbolize the personality traits of the characters -- the little, likeable and neatly trimmed Vasili against the distasteful frame of the post-office clerk who was "a great bully of a man, thorough and obstinate, clad in long cotton drawers, with mother-of-pearl claws on his dirty toes, and bear's fur between fat breasts." The unpleasantness of Vasili's German tormentors has been emphasized with exaggerated descriptions of their undesirability - the women are fat, disproportionate or even burlesque and the men are obnoxious giants with lustreless eyes and rough manners. The homogeneity of the oppressors is further underlined with the clever use of names - two Gretas and two Schultzs and a Schramm. This coercive crowd is a loud, unruly beast which traps and tortures the introverted Vasili, crushing his sensitive spirit.
The pleasure trip is a chance for Vasili and the reader to revel in the tender and well-meaning beauty of nature. He is enticed by the scenery he encounters on his way and finally succumbs to the charm of the perfect view of the cloud, the castle and the lake. Unsurprisingly, it is another avenue for Nabokov to mesmerize the reader.
This very short story can be read here.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/...
In the Berlin of the late 1930s, a Russian refugee, Vasili Ivanovich, wins a pleasure trip at a charity ball. It is a different, otherworldly Germany with a "Bureau of Pleasantrips" and enforced pleasure trips which require bureaucratic rigmarole to get out of. Such Kafkaesque absurdities turn this involuntary expedition into an offer Vasili cannot refuse. The seemingly harmless communal excursion transforms into a "hideous fairy tale" for this reserved bachelor whose mild individuality is pulverized by the depraved hand of collective pressure. Nabokov gives an oblique nod to the Nazi era by portraying the brewing horror of those years through social oppression of Vasili, an insignificant, nondescript individual whose very name the narrator cannot recall with certainty.
For me, not an extraordinary work in itself but I enjoyed the seductive spell of poetic language, charming literary devices, and delightful descriptions - the dazzling fireworks of the choicest weapons from the author's arsenal. You can always count on Nabokov for a fancy prose style. Bear with me for some time as I cannot get the cadence of the writing out of my head. In my imagination, Nabokov might have smiled smugly after creating these tiny jingles; it is such a pleasure to say them out loud.
vague velvety vileness
tiled eyelid
daisies daubed on the white walls
dwelling with a winking window
The lens of physicality has been used to symbolize the personality traits of the characters -- the little, likeable and neatly trimmed Vasili against the distasteful frame of the post-office clerk who was "a great bully of a man, thorough and obstinate, clad in long cotton drawers, with mother-of-pearl claws on his dirty toes, and bear's fur between fat breasts." The unpleasantness of Vasili's German tormentors has been emphasized with exaggerated descriptions of their undesirability - the women are fat, disproportionate or even burlesque and the men are obnoxious giants with lustreless eyes and rough manners. The homogeneity of the oppressors is further underlined with the clever use of names - two Gretas and two Schultzs and a Schramm. This coercive crowd is a loud, unruly beast which traps and tortures the introverted Vasili, crushing his sensitive spirit.
The pleasure trip is a chance for Vasili and the reader to revel in the tender and well-meaning beauty of nature. He is enticed by the scenery he encounters on his way and finally succumbs to the charm of the perfect view of the cloud, the castle and the lake. Unsurprisingly, it is another avenue for Nabokov to mesmerize the reader.
The blue dampness of a ravine. A memory of love, disguised as a meadow. Wispy clouds—greyhounds of heaven.
This very short story can be read here.
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/...
October 3, 2021
"... he had not the strength to belong to mankind any longer.”
The "mankind" in which individuality perishes under the oppression of collective mind and social conformity. There is a line "this is nothing less than an invitation to a beheading” - a reference to one of his previously published novels Invitation to a Beheading. Not sure about the connection as I haven't yet had the novel, but the characters have different names...
The English translation that first appeared in 1941 in The Atlantic Monthly can be read on the magazine website:
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1941/06/cloud-castle-lake/305003/
The "mankind" in which individuality perishes under the oppression of collective mind and social conformity. There is a line "this is nothing less than an invitation to a beheading” - a reference to one of his previously published novels Invitation to a Beheading. Not sure about the connection as I haven't yet had the novel, but the characters have different names...
The English translation that first appeared in 1941 in The Atlantic Monthly can be read on the magazine website:
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1941/06/cloud-castle-lake/305003/
January 19, 2025
3.5-4 stars
I like Nabokov so I bought this little book. It's just 56 pages. In it you'll find six short stories. They all concern people in confusion. A man believes his first love has written their story under another name. A barber believes a client was his torturer. A young woman is pushed into marriage by well meaning friends who misunderstand her. A day trip becomes a nightmare. Loving parents think they can help an ill son who they love.
The writing is skilled but Nabokov's heights are reached in longer forms: the novel and memoir. These are snacks in comparison. For more on the experience of exiles like himself, I'd rather go back and reread his own story Speak, Memory.
I like Nabokov so I bought this little book. It's just 56 pages. In it you'll find six short stories. They all concern people in confusion. A man believes his first love has written their story under another name. A barber believes a client was his torturer. A young woman is pushed into marriage by well meaning friends who misunderstand her. A day trip becomes a nightmare. Loving parents think they can help an ill son who they love.
The writing is skilled but Nabokov's heights are reached in longer forms: the novel and memoir. These are snacks in comparison. For more on the experience of exiles like himself, I'd rather go back and reread his own story Speak, Memory.
January 8, 2018
Chờ đợi mãi mới thấy trên Tiki có hàng cuốn này trở lại. Thấy giảm giá 30% là mình chộp ngay luôn, không chần chừ :)) Thú thiệt là mình thích tuyển tập này hơn là tuyển tập 1, Mỹ Nhân Nga, nhưng chỉ thích hơn một tẹo thôi :D Đơn giản là vì cuốn này có nhiều truyện mình đọc hiểu hơn và thích hơn, dù thực sự là văn phong và trình độ viết truyện ngắn của bác Nabokov vẫn là một cái gì đó khá bí ẩn và ở tầm cao hơn đối với tư duy của mình :)))) (đó là lý do vì sao mình đọc tuyển tập này từ năm ngoái tới năm nay :D) Nhiều truyện đọc rồi vẫn phải lên google search analysis để đọc phân tích, sau đó mới có thể thấu hiểu hoàn toàn câu chuyện, dụng ý cũng như tài năng kể chuyện của tác giả :D
Những truyện mình thích nhất là "Sự tình cờ", "Sự trả thù", "Tai nạn", "Cuộc trở về của Chorb", "Tiếng chuông cửa" và "Mây, Hồ, Tháp". Tuyển tập này có truyện ngắn "Xuân Fialta", (nghe đồn là) được mệnh danh là một trong những truyện ngắn hay nhất thế giới. Mình lên đọc phân tích truyện này thì có thể hiểu được phần nào lý do vì sao "Xuân Fialta" được xưng tụng như vậy. Tuy nhiên thực sự là khi đọc, mình không hiểu lắm vì sao mà một câu chuyện lộn xộn về trình tự thời gian, trình tự kể chuyện như thế lại được xem là hay nhất thế giới. Chắc là trong tương lai mình phải đọc lại "Xuân Fialta" quá, chú ý theo dõi những chi tiết mình không biết là quan trọng mà đã vô tình bỏ qua trong lần đọc đầu tiên (sau khi lên mạng đọc phân tích mới biết có đủ thứ cần chú ý trong truyện ngắn này ha ha ha :D).
Những truyện mình thích nhất là "Sự tình cờ", "Sự trả thù", "Tai nạn", "Cuộc trở về của Chorb", "Tiếng chuông cửa" và "Mây, Hồ, Tháp". Tuyển tập này có truyện ngắn "Xuân Fialta", (nghe đồn là) được mệnh danh là một trong những truyện ngắn hay nhất thế giới. Mình lên đọc phân tích truyện này thì có thể hiểu được phần nào lý do vì sao "Xuân Fialta" được xưng tụng như vậy. Tuy nhiên thực sự là khi đọc, mình không hiểu lắm vì sao mà một câu chuyện lộn xộn về trình tự thời gian, trình tự kể chuyện như thế lại được xem là hay nhất thế giới. Chắc là trong tương lai mình phải đọc lại "Xuân Fialta" quá, chú ý theo dõi những chi tiết mình không biết là quan trọng mà đã vô tình bỏ qua trong lần đọc đầu tiên (sau khi lên mạng đọc phân tích mới biết có đủ thứ cần chú ý trong truyện ngắn này ha ha ha :D).
March 21, 2018
Nothing brilliant, but one cannot say that Nabokov doesn't write well, the writing is thoroughly good. The stories are just average and I personally don't find them that good but at least they weren't boring.
This penguin pocket edition has 5 Short stories translated from Russian:
•The Admiralty Spire •razor
• Russian beauty •cloud, castle, lake
•Signs and Symbols
Chiefly on Russian migrants in Germany and the US.
I really loved "Signs and Symbols" it's the best!★★★★★
It's my first read by Nabokov and I didn't expect much from it, I'll read his novels first then judge him!!
This penguin pocket edition has 5 Short stories translated from Russian:
•The Admiralty Spire •razor
• Russian beauty •cloud, castle, lake
•Signs and Symbols
Chiefly on Russian migrants in Germany and the US.
I really loved "Signs and Symbols" it's the best!★★★★★
It's my first read by Nabokov and I didn't expect much from it, I'll read his novels first then judge him!!
December 5, 2018
This is a beautifully compact collection. The first story, The Admiralty Spire, the writer pens a letter to an author whom he believes to have written a book erroneously based on one of his previous love affairs. The short is playful, inventive, funny and filled with ludicrous protestations. The second, Razor, by contrast has a real edge to it. Two characters are brought together, this time under different circumstances from their previous encounter. Gripping. A slender selection, but well worth your investment.
March 13, 2017
- Quá nhiều cái chết. Như thể tác giả không biết kết kiểu nào khác.
- 'Xuân Fialta' có vẻ là truyện ngắn đậm chất Nabokov nhất, nhưng không gây ấn tượng với mình bằng 'Cuộc trở về của Chorb'. Cả tập mình cũng chỉ ấn tượng mỗi truyện này.
- 'Xuân Fialta' có vẻ là truyện ngắn đậm chất Nabokov nhất, nhưng không gây ấn tượng với mình bằng 'Cuộc trở về của Chorb'. Cả tập mình cũng chỉ ấn tượng mỗi truyện này.
September 7, 2016
A collection of five short stories from The Stories of Vladimir Nabokov, published as a Penguin 70.
The five stories are loosely themed around Russians living abroad - Germany or America.
This book has a high star rating (just under 4), and perhaps this effected my expectations, because reviewers loved this!
These stories just didn't work for me. Some I just didn't understand the point of: A Russian Beauty, and Signs and Symbols. Some I found pointless or uninteresting: Cloud, Castle, Lake and The Admiralty Spire. Razor was amusing, but at 6 pages long, didn't justify my reading this book!
Maybe there is something deep, philosophical, or intellectual that I just missed.
Can't be persuaded it rates higher than a 2 for me.
The five stories are loosely themed around Russians living abroad - Germany or America.
This book has a high star rating (just under 4), and perhaps this effected my expectations, because reviewers loved this!
These stories just didn't work for me. Some I just didn't understand the point of: A Russian Beauty, and Signs and Symbols. Some I found pointless or uninteresting: Cloud, Castle, Lake and The Admiralty Spire. Razor was amusing, but at 6 pages long, didn't justify my reading this book!
Maybe there is something deep, philosophical, or intellectual that I just missed.
Can't be persuaded it rates higher than a 2 for me.
October 25, 2019
Bài viết này tôi xin gửi lời cảm ơn đến Thiên Lương- một dịch giả có tâm và có tầm về Nabokov. Mà nếu không có anh, những truyện ngắn đẹp đẽ và tinh tế vô cùng này sẽ rất khó được biết đến ở Việt Nam, hoặc cũng đã kém mượt mà hơn rất nhiều.
Mây, Hồ Tháp không phải là tập truyện ngắn đầu tiên của Nabokov được xuất bản Việt Nam, trước đó có một tập truyện ngắn Mỹ nhân Nga thực sự xuất sắc ra mắt giữa tháng 8/2016 cũng do Thiên Lương dịch, lời văn mợt mà, tinh tế, xuất sắc.
Mây Hồ Tháp là tập truyện ngắn gồm 17 truyện, tập trung thuộc về nhiều loại chủ đề khác nhau kéo dài trong suốt quãng thời gian sáng tác của Nabokov. Có lẽ vì vậy mà rất khó để có thể bắt được một nhịp chủ đề xuyên suốt như thấy ở nhiều tập truyện ngắn khác. Nhưng nếu tinh ý, ta có thể nhận ra, mỗi truyện ngắn gần như được đánh dấu một giai đoạn trong sáng tác của Nabokov.
Điểm đặc biệt, chỉ có ở tập truyện Mây Hồ Tháp lần này, ta mới bắt gặp Nabokov trong thể loại khá lạ lẫm với nhà văn tinh tế và chân thật này:Lance- Một truyện ngắn khoa học viễn tưởng. Mà đến tận trước khi đọc nó, mình vẫn không thể hình dung được Nabokov và khoa học viễn tưởng có mối liên hệ nào. Nhưng nếu xếp nó vào trong bối cảnh cuộc đời của Nabokov và gắn nó với thời điểm nó ra đời- truyện ngắn cuối cùng của ông và trong thời đại khi Liên Xô và Mỹ đang cạnh tranh vũ trụ gay gắt, chúng ta có thể phần nào đoán được lý do nó ra đời.
Nhưng ngay cả khi nói về khoa học viễn tưởng, nói về những sứ mệnh vũ trụ, ta vẫn không thể nào có thể nhầm lẫn giọng văn của Nabokov với bất cứ ai khác, bởi cái phong cách ấy, và cũng bởi cách dịch tuyệt vời của Thiên Lương, Nabokov vẫn mãi là Nabokov, vẫn mãi tinh tế như vậy.
Mây, Hồ Tháp không phải là tập truyện ngắn đầu tiên của Nabokov được xuất bản Việt Nam, trước đó có một tập truyện ngắn Mỹ nhân Nga thực sự xuất sắc ra mắt giữa tháng 8/2016 cũng do Thiên Lương dịch, lời văn mợt mà, tinh tế, xuất sắc.
Mây Hồ Tháp là tập truyện ngắn gồm 17 truyện, tập trung thuộc về nhiều loại chủ đề khác nhau kéo dài trong suốt quãng thời gian sáng tác của Nabokov. Có lẽ vì vậy mà rất khó để có thể bắt được một nhịp chủ đề xuyên suốt như thấy ở nhiều tập truyện ngắn khác. Nhưng nếu tinh ý, ta có thể nhận ra, mỗi truyện ngắn gần như được đánh dấu một giai đoạn trong sáng tác của Nabokov.
Điểm đặc biệt, chỉ có ở tập truyện Mây Hồ Tháp lần này, ta mới bắt gặp Nabokov trong thể loại khá lạ lẫm với nhà văn tinh tế và chân thật này:Lance- Một truyện ngắn khoa học viễn tưởng. Mà đến tận trước khi đọc nó, mình vẫn không thể hình dung được Nabokov và khoa học viễn tưởng có mối liên hệ nào. Nhưng nếu xếp nó vào trong bối cảnh cuộc đời của Nabokov và gắn nó với thời điểm nó ra đời- truyện ngắn cuối cùng của ông và trong thời đại khi Liên Xô và Mỹ đang cạnh tranh vũ trụ gay gắt, chúng ta có thể phần nào đoán được lý do nó ra đời.
Nhưng ngay cả khi nói về khoa học viễn tưởng, nói về những sứ mệnh vũ trụ, ta vẫn không thể nào có thể nhầm lẫn giọng văn của Nabokov với bất cứ ai khác, bởi cái phong cách ấy, và cũng bởi cách dịch tuyệt vời của Thiên Lương, Nabokov vẫn mãi là Nabokov, vẫn mãi tinh tế như vậy.
April 8, 2017
Mình đã đọc bản tiếng Anh truyện ngắn của Nabokov, khi chuyển qua đọc bản dịch tiếng Việt của dịch giả Thiên Lương, mình rất ấn tượng với cách dịch gãy gọn và sát ý với bản gốc của dịch giả. Lời văn được dịch thanh thoát, nhẹ nhàng với những từ ngữ rất đẹp. Thích nhất truyện ngắn "Xuân Fialta" và "Lời". Mình có cảm giác bản tiếng Việt của "Xuân Fialta" còn hay hơn bản tiếng Anh, vì từ ngữ mang chất thơ hơn. Có thể truyện được dịch từ bản tiếng Nga? Mình bình chọn cho cuốn sách này 5/5 sao.
May 6, 2008
Great stories. Specially the Admiralty Spire, which was hilarious and encompassed many ideas. Also loved Signs & Symbols, which is an open-ended story demanding completion by the reader. The expression of madness is so poetic in this one.
Cloud, castle lake is a Kafkaesque work, also reminded me of Coetzee's K., of a person misplaced in time and society.
Cloud, castle lake is a Kafkaesque work, also reminded me of Coetzee's K., of a person misplaced in time and society.
January 1, 2026
Nabokov is a wonder, but these were not his best.
May 27, 2019
This Pocket Penguin edition was only published in the U.K., and I came across it when I was researching the phrase “cloud castle,” after reading it in another book. I ordered it from eBay, and it took 6 weeks to arrive. Once it did I was ecstatic, and it came with me everywhere. Nabokov’s writing is so intoxicating to me that I really attempted to draw it out for as long as possible, in this case about a week, reading one story every couple days.
Originally published in 1941 in The Atlantic, the title story is a Kafka-esque romp through the German countryside. Vasiliy Ivanovich, a Russian expat, wins a holiday in a prize drawing at a charity ball. When selling the ticket becomes too complex, he decides to just go on the trip. What follows is a series of misfortunes, injustices, and outright horrors that culminate in a fantastic brawl.
My favorite, though, was the very first story: The Admiralty Spire. Written in the form of a letter in which the sender critiques the recipient’s novel, a romance-cum-tragedy, the story is a meandering retelling of the sender’s own sad tale of the flame of his love extinguished by the spark of the Revolution. To my knowledge this is the earliest instance of Nabokov’s meta play with literary forms, famously canonized in his Pale Fire.
Read this review and others on my blog, Bookish Bish: http://www.bookishbish.com
Originally published in 1941 in The Atlantic, the title story is a Kafka-esque romp through the German countryside. Vasiliy Ivanovich, a Russian expat, wins a holiday in a prize drawing at a charity ball. When selling the ticket becomes too complex, he decides to just go on the trip. What follows is a series of misfortunes, injustices, and outright horrors that culminate in a fantastic brawl.
My favorite, though, was the very first story: The Admiralty Spire. Written in the form of a letter in which the sender critiques the recipient’s novel, a romance-cum-tragedy, the story is a meandering retelling of the sender’s own sad tale of the flame of his love extinguished by the spark of the Revolution. To my knowledge this is the earliest instance of Nabokov’s meta play with literary forms, famously canonized in his Pale Fire.
Read this review and others on my blog, Bookish Bish: http://www.bookishbish.com
May 28, 2020
Nabokov has such a playful mastery of language, but it's ever astonishing that someone fluent in three languages can approach each of them with such romance (especially French, and constantly throughout what I've read of his work.) These stories are absolutely political, but it's entirely possible to engage with them without context particularly if you're a sad or disillusioned person I'd suppose.
The opening story is so gorgeous and like everything else it bursts with wanting, the voice is so strong and so lucid it's hard to believe it's developed in only 18 pages. The titular story is heart wrenching, it never fails to blow my mind the way Nabokov walks the line between matter-of-fact-ness and pure unbridled emotion, and leaves the reader feeling like they just observed something visceral as opposed to experiencing it themselves. Signs and Symbols is endlessly clever, and sad, and the perfect closer for this little anthology of perfect little stories.
A quick read that makes me wish I'd had the self restraint to space it out over more than an afternoon.
The opening story is so gorgeous and like everything else it bursts with wanting, the voice is so strong and so lucid it's hard to believe it's developed in only 18 pages. The titular story is heart wrenching, it never fails to blow my mind the way Nabokov walks the line between matter-of-fact-ness and pure unbridled emotion, and leaves the reader feeling like they just observed something visceral as opposed to experiencing it themselves. Signs and Symbols is endlessly clever, and sad, and the perfect closer for this little anthology of perfect little stories.
A quick read that makes me wish I'd had the self restraint to space it out over more than an afternoon.
August 15, 2020
Truyện mình thích nhất là Thiện tính, có vẻ lại không ai để ý đến nhỉ =)) Mình thích cách Nabokov lột tả sự chờ đợi và thăng trầm của cảm xúc bằng qua hành động quan sát bà cụ chứ gần như không hề miêu tả trực tiếp sự chờ đợi. Kết truyện cũng hay nữa. Khá bất ngờ khi Xuân Fialta được coi là một trong những truyện ngắn hay nhất, nhưng cũng dễ hiểu. Nói thẳng là đầu mình không đủ để hiểu nổi những điều Nabokov muốn truyền tải, tỉ như Lance đọc chẳng hiểu gì luôn, nhưng cái là mình thích văn của Nabokov nên đọc không bị nản, chính sự trừu tượng cực điểm của nó đem lại cho mình cảm giác lần mò trong một thế giới lạ lẫm, mơ hồ, đến cuối mình vẫn không thể phác được đường nét của nó, nhưng mình yêu sự đẹp đẽ của nó.
July 26, 2020
Trong phần mở đầu người dịch có đề cập dịch từ bản gốc, nhưng mình đồ rằng dịch giả dịch từ bản tiếng Anh The stories of Vladimir Nabokov (Vladimir Nabokov collected stories), chứ không phải dịch từ tiếng Nga. Phần dịch có nhiểu chỗ rất khó hiểu, văn phong hơi xa lạ so với người Việt. Điều này cũng dễ hiểu vì Vladimir Nabokov không hề dễ dịch. Điển hình như trong truyện ngắn "The word" (Lời) cụm từ "dazzling precipice" dịch giả dịch thành "vực sâu chói lóa", mình lại nghĩ nó là "những vách núi hùng vĩ" hơn. Cụm "large flowers ... puffing out their translucent convex petals" dịch thành "những đóa hoa lớn.... các cánh hoa lồi trong veo căng phồng". Ở đây người dịch khéo tách từ 1 câu trong văn bản gốc thành 2 câu và thay đổi cấu trúc câu, thành ra thay vì "puffing out" như động từ, thì biến nó thành tính từ "căng phồng". Dịch "convex petal" là "cánh hoa lồi" đúng từ điển ("convex" nghĩa là "lồi"), nhưng đọc "cánh hoa lồi" vẫn thấy có gì đó không thuận. Ở đây có thể hiểu tác giả mô tả những cánh hoa cong cong bị thổi căng phồng trong gió. Rất khó dịch!
Còn ở đoạn tiếp theo có cụm "a tempest of wings" dịch thành "cơn bão cánh". Mình dò "tempest" thì đúng nghĩa là "bão tố" thật, nhưng ở đây có cảm giác như tác giả mô tả "cơn gió mạnh gây ra do hành động đập cánh" của "các thiên thần". Nói chung mình chưa ưng bản dịch cho lắm. Có lẽ phải đọc lại bản tiếng Anh để xem thế nào.
Mình cho 4 sao về nội dụng truyện và 3 sao về phần dịch, lấy trung bình là 3 sao rưỡi.
Còn ở đoạn tiếp theo có cụm "a tempest of wings" dịch thành "cơn bão cánh". Mình dò "tempest" thì đúng nghĩa là "bão tố" thật, nhưng ở đây có cảm giác như tác giả mô tả "cơn gió mạnh gây ra do hành động đập cánh" của "các thiên thần". Nói chung mình chưa ưng bản dịch cho lắm. Có lẽ phải đọc lại bản tiếng Anh để xem thế nào.
Mình cho 4 sao về nội dụng truyện và 3 sao về phần dịch, lấy trung bình là 3 sao rưỡi.
February 8, 2025
Tycker egentligen kanske att den var en fyra av fem. Men. Korresponderade inte så väl med Nabokovs språk som jag kanske egentligen hade velat rent intellektuellt. Otroligt vackra formuleringar! Var flera ggr som jag upplevde att han satte fingret på något jag inte visste att jag sökte. Mm. Pratade på något vis väldigt mycket Runt snarare än Om. Föreställer mig att en direkt transaktion från tanke till papper hade urartat sig lite på detta vis. Kändes halvt som att läsa en dagbok som aldrig var till för att läsas. Som att halvt sättas i arbete med att göra ett ofrivilligt försök till att uppleva någon annans mystifierade minnen (där alla kontextuella detaljer utelämnats i syfte att inte avslöja för mycket.) Vissa saker var helt omöjliga att tyda medan andra slog direkt genom alla barrikader man inte fattade att man över huvud taget hade uppe. Intressant!
November 26, 2019
I initially bought this book because of a sudden remembrance of how much much I had enjoyed reading Lolita.
One book by Nabokov wasn't enough, so I decided to try out some of his short stories.
-I will definitely be looking into some more books he wrote, if you have any particular recommendations, let me know!!
Saying that Nabokov mastered the English language is a massive understatement..
Most of the stories were about Russian immigrants living in Germany or the US, the stories themselves were quite interesting, though even had they not been, I'm pretty sure it would have been an entertaining read nonetheless.
The ones that struck me the most were 'The Admiralty Spire', 'Razor' (possibly my favourite one) and 'Cloud, Castle, Lake'.
One book by Nabokov wasn't enough, so I decided to try out some of his short stories.
-I will definitely be looking into some more books he wrote, if you have any particular recommendations, let me know!!
Saying that Nabokov mastered the English language is a massive understatement..
Most of the stories were about Russian immigrants living in Germany or the US, the stories themselves were quite interesting, though even had they not been, I'm pretty sure it would have been an entertaining read nonetheless.
The ones that struck me the most were 'The Admiralty Spire', 'Razor' (possibly my favourite one) and 'Cloud, Castle, Lake'.
April 9, 2024
2/13 from Savers book haul. I was stirred by the short story 'The Admiralty Spire'. In it, the narrator recounts the ferocity and magic he felt when in **love** 16 years prior. A tale of unrequited adoration and attentiveness, or a man romanticising his obsession and subsequent abusive actions? It is Nabokov after all... but his reminiscent tone and descriptions have a charming pull.
"
I just silently kissed her hand, which then slipped back into its muff forever.
Farewell, my anguish, and my ardor,
Farewell, my dream, farewell, my pain!
Along the paths of the old garden
We two shall never meet again.
"
"
I just silently kissed her hand, which then slipped back into its muff forever.
Farewell, my anguish, and my ardor,
Farewell, my dream, farewell, my pain!
Along the paths of the old garden
We two shall never meet again.
"
January 30, 2021
là tập truyện ngắn nên có những truyện tôi không thích và rất thích. một chất thơ đặc biệt, khiến tôi run rẩy trong cả mười trang của câu chuyện ấy. Xuân Fiatla quá đẹp, quá vĩ đại, một rung cảm thầm kín của một gã đàn ông. Nỗi sợ thì tôi thấy bình thường, ấn tượng chắc chỉ ở văn tả, chắc là do tôi đã trải qua những trạng thái cảm xúc vậy rồi nên không bất ngờ.
March 11, 2025
Wow. Assigned in 1983. Finished in 2025. Read in about fifteen minutes. I found it bizarre. I know black humor and irony when I read it. What I wonder about is the smug assumptions about the world you have to understand about the world to enjoy this. It's not beyond me, I just wonder if I have to enjoy it?
May 18, 2023
“The Admiralty Spire” may be one of my favourite short stories of all time, every description is stunning and the entire concept is so beautiful and comedic
“Every sentence of yours buttons to the left”
“Every sentence of yours buttons to the left”
December 20, 2020
Thoughtful and beautifully written selection of stories, as you'd expect from Nabokov.
December 26, 2020
Beautiful and thought provoking read.
September 16, 2021
A strange Nabokovian tale. Strange not, only, for its Nabokovianness but moreso for its rather stirring Unnabokovianness.
August 24, 2022
Unmistakably Nabokov.
August 15, 2023
The description of a group of Germans going on a trip was uncanny in its exactness.
June 5, 2024
wonderful way with words
Displaying 1 - 30 of 51 reviews