Vladimir Nabokov and the Art of Play (Oxford English Monographs) - Hardcover

Thomas Karshan is one of the finest Nabokov critics of his generation. (The Slavonic and East European Review)

[A] book of many rich and transformative observations of Nabokov's work and about literature generally; it is essential reading for anyone interested in twentieth-century literature. (Slavic and East European Journal)

Nabokov scholars will applaud Karshan's grand return to a theme long ignored for having seemed obvious. His monograph is scholarship of the first water ... an imperative read for scholars, for Karshan's imaginative flight encompasses almost all of Nabokov's texts, discovering a new arc by which to trace the writer's fifty-year career. His study makes excellent play of the work behind it. (John Kopper, Russian Review)

Full of Nabokov's play, and is as considered a treatment of this vital aspect of Nabokov's artistry as could be wished for. (Stephen Abell, Times Literary Supplement)

[a] penetrating, omniscient book (New Statesman)

In a 1925 speech, Nabokov declared that 'everything in the world plays', including 'love, nature, the arts, and domestic puns.' Thomas Karshan draws on early writings and archival material to argue that play is Nabokov's signature theme, and that his novels form one of the most sophisticated treatments of play ever achieved.