This collection contains poems by Vladimir Nabokov, written between 1917 and 1947 in Europe and America. For the most part, the collection includes previously unpublished poems from the twenties, the early work of Nabokov, then writing under the pseudonym Sirina. The publication also includes an interesting archival find, 'Superman's Lament,' written in June 1942, shortly after the writer moved to America.

The early poems already display the features that would soon become the hallmark of Nabokov the prose writer. Strange, unexpected descriptions already emerge from the poetic form, and the form itself follows the content – ​​Nabokov is trying out blank verse, which allows more freedom and is subordinate to the content.

Motifs conditioned by the author's exceptional fate are also recognizable. Torn from home, Nabokov returns there in his work. Even in the fairytale poem 'Sun Dream,' seemingly unrelated to the author's biography, we still find his eternal return home. The hero retreats to a ghostly world, where someone constantly calls him, where someone has been waiting for him for a long time. Then he is found dead in a field. Has he reached the edge of his dreams, or were they just dreams?

Abstract

We are all accustomed to thinking of Vladimir Nabokov as a magnificent prose writer, a unique, inimitable stylist. Much less known to the general public is Nabokov the poet. This edition includes both well-known and previously unpublished poems. 'The Legend of the Moon,' 'Electricity,' 'In the Wild North,' and 'Olympicum' are published for the first time. Also published for the first time is 'Superman's Lament,' written in America shortly after his move.

The poetry, due to the condensed form, more clearly reveals the main themes of Nabokov's work. Each poem in this collection is, if not about returning, then about the impossibility of returning: 'I want to go home. Enough. Kachurin, can I go home?'