Product Description

Written in Berlin in 1934, Invitation to a Beheading contains all the surprise, excitement and magical intensity of a work created in two brief weeks of sustained inspiration. It takes us into the fantastic prison-world of Cincinnatus, a man condemned to death and spending his last days in prison not quite knowing when the end will come. Nabokov described the book as ‘a violin in a void. The worldling will deem it a trick. Old men will hurriedly turn from it to regional romances and the lives of public figures … The evil-minded will perceive in little Emmie a sister of little Lolita … But I know a few readers who will jump up, ruffling their hair’.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #126024 in Books
• Published on: 2001-04-26
• Original language: Russian
• Binding: Paperback
• 192 pages

About the Author
Vladimir Nabokov was born in St Petersburg in 1899, but he left Russia when the Bolsheviks seized power. His family moved to England for a brief spell and finally settled in Berlin. His first novel in English was The Real Life of Sebastian Knight, published in 1941. His other books include Ada, Laughter in the Dark, Details of a Sunset and Lolita, his best-known novel. Nabokov died in Montreux, Switzerland in 1977.

Customer Reviews

No easy way out
To understand Nabokov's Invitation we must at first do away with two comparisons. By the same author; Lolita is a blue streak tour-de-force of baby boomer America, narrated by a poetic and childish synaesthesiac that is an incredible book in its own right but occupies a completely different world to Invitation. Second are the comparisons to Kafka and The Trial, Nabokov claiming to not have read at the time of writing Invitaion, though assuming a kindred spirit with the author in his introduction. The suffocating atmosphere is similar, yet it is probably a bad idea to try and liken the setting of Invitation to any totalitarian regime existing in the real world or the imagination. Orwell is also lampooned by Nabokov in his introduction; Nabokov famous for admonishing attempts of critics to allegorise fiction, even more so those attempts of authors. That said, Invitation is famous for elicting thousands of interpretations, and no one can claim the authoritative explanation, yet taking away the claims above does move one closer to unlocking the puzzles the book creates.

The entire scope of Invitation lies within the small prison world of Cincinatus and the small cast of characters around him. This claustrophobic world relentlessly forces us to live in Cincinatus' cell, with next to no sense of release. The small breaks from Cincinatus' prison world consist of imaginary wanderings round the small town were C lives that inevitably lead back to his cell, as well as the absurd and perhaps even manipulated break-outs. These fragments of memory are the only parts of the story that exist outside of the fortress. It is reasonable to assume that Nabokov intended to create a story that only exists within it's own pages, a small universe that lives within it's own bizarre rules and is sentenced to its own death by C himself.

Cincinatus differs quite drastically from Kafka's heroes such as Gregor Samsa, in that his absurd nature also consists of great power, terrifying, confounding and constantly offending all who visit him. He is not confined by either the prison cell, his own beheading or even his own nature, whilst Samsa's sense of self becomes increasingly squashed by his impending insect-ness and the detachment to his family. Samsa enduces feelings of sympathy within the reader, whereas Cincinatus becomes more alien to us and his captors.

The rest of Invitation's characters are equally absurd. From the prison guard to the mysterious man who occupies the other cell, every single character partakes in bizarre circular behaviour than confounds the reader and Cincinatus himself. Monsieur Pierre's jokes instill exaggerated fits of laughter in the guards, and the prison guard takes Cincinatus for a waltz. The only character who seems close to representing an aspect of normality is the library clerk, who decides to ignore most of what anyone says, Cincinatus included. His surroundings fall apart like a bad set, in that effortless manner in which one's teeth fall out of their mouths in dreams. His visitors enter his cell with ridiculous props and forced lines. Eventually his entire world is ripped into two before ascending to another world (although his salvation itself is not fulfilled as the story ends before he even gets there.)

The book may force the reader to many different reactions. The bizarre world within a book that Nabokov creates may leave you in a cold sweat, as if awoken from a nightmare, relieved to realise you are inhabit a world that makes sense. Or perhaps you may have attached yourself to Cincinatus, the man who plays at existing in the world of humans, yet being careful not to place himself at the wrong angle lest someone becomes aware of his inhuman nature. A man who inhabits neither a real world, a real body, who certainly does not possess a real soul. If you are of the second persuasion then my prayers are with you!

An all time classic
This book is stunning. It was the last book that Nabokov wrote in Russian and it explores a lot of the themes that he goes back to in later novels like Bend Sinister and Pale Fire. If I had to, I would pick those two novels above this one, but this one is certainly worth reading. I consider it one of the finest works of literature. It is funny, tragic, moving, puzzling, but ultimately very rewarding.

If Lolita is the best, this is the second best...
Nabokov wrote this book in two weeks. As a result the book is fast paced, as is the reading. I couldnt stop reading it until I was finished.
The author denies having read Kafka before writing this book. The fact is that the "strangeness" of the story is akin to Kafkas works. A man that finds himself in a starnge situation (in this case, convicted to death) without any aparent reason, surrounded by stranger characters. As for the end of the book, without giving it away, all I can say is that it is Amazingly puzling... Great book from a great author!