This collection comprises Vladimir Nabokov's plays 'A Man from the USSR,' 'The Event,' and 'The Invention of the Waltz,' created in Germany and France between 1926 and 1938. Unlike his earlier verse plays, these are written in prose, in which the already acclaimed writer continues his thematic and narrative explorations. The mysterious projects of Kuznetsov, who came to Berlin from the USSR, the family drama of the artist Troshcheikin, and the madcap swirl of the Waltz's inventor between reality and fantasy—the conflicts and collisions of these plays are surprisingly modern and captivating.
The drama 'A Man from the USSR,' unpublished during Nabokov's lifetime, is published based on an archival text. The play 'The Invention of the Waltz' is published for the first time in an expanded 1968 edition. The edition includes editorial commentary and an appendix including new archival materials.