I had to work a bit to get into this book. Superficially it is very like Nabokov's LOLITA. An older man falls in love with a teenager. But in this book, the teenager holds the winning hand. This novel was written in 1932 when VN was in Berlin, but it feels very Russian to me.
A married older man in the film industry falls for a usherette he meets at the cinema. He is totally besotted, and it is not long before he leaves his wife and child to take up life with a girl who rarely shows any interest in him. Beyond his money, that is.
When a recent lover of the girl enters the picture, things get even more dire for the older man. This is noir, but it is also very comic in parts. And despite loathing the older man (he does some despicable things) what happens to him is more than just rewards. A tragedy, a comedy, noir. This is also a very lively story and surprising at many turns.
6 comments:
I went through a Nabokov phase back in the seventies but didn't read this one. I did like Lolita, Pale Fire, Despair, Ada and Pnin. Lolita being my favorite which I have been meaning to reread someday.
I admit I've not read this one, Patti, but I do like Nabakov's style. And there is something about that dark wit...
His style here reminds me very much of Chekhov.
PALE FIRE is my favorite Nabokov. Very funny and snarky!
I've been meaning to read this for a couple years -- soon now!
As I understand it, LAUGHTER IN THE DARK was originally written in Russia as CAMERA OBSCURA, and first translated as CAMERA OBSCURA. Nabokov hated that translation, so he did one of his own, LAUGHTER IN THE DARK, and I understand this version is significantly different from the Russian original -- so in a way, it's an odd Russian/English hybrid, appropriate as it appeared in 1938, the same time as his last Russian novel (THE GIFT) and shortly before his first English novel (THE REAL LIFE OF SEBASTIAN KNIGHT.)
As for me, my favorite Nabokov novel is PNIN.
I read this as a very young man, which may explain why I didn't remember the younger woman being quite so young as she was. What I do recall is that I liked the novel very much. Oh, how I'd like to see film adaptation directed by Tony Richardson.
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