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'The Eye' follows the story of a sombre, somewhat preposterous young man, Smurov, a kind of maniacal Gogolian anti-hero whose attempt at suicide sends him into a existential crises, where he imagines his many "selves" as seen through the eyes of other people.
Although 'The Eye' contains many of the hallmarks of Nabokov's fiction; unreliable narrators, the exploration of concepts of the self and a superficially charming (though with Smurov even this is a bit of a stretch) solipsistic narrator, h ...more
Although 'The Eye' contains many of the hallmarks of Nabokov's fiction; unreliable narrators, the exploration of concepts of the self and a superficially charming (though with Smurov even this is a bit of a stretch) solipsistic narrator, h ...more
An interesting examination of identity. At times, I wondered at the relevance of some of the events in the story, and especially of the narrator's obsession with Smurov, before the climax informed me that they were one and the same man (I'd thankfully forgotten the back cover blurb that gives everything away).
I can't help wondering how differently the story might have read if Nabokov hadn't dropped the "narrator" a third of the way in, and treated the story more as a third-person POV, if he'd g ...more
I can't help wondering how differently the story might have read if Nabokov hadn't dropped the "narrator" a third of the way in, and treated the story more as a third-person POV, if he'd g ...more
One of Nabokov's quirkier novels/novellas. Only about ~100 pages, The Eye deals with a man, Smurov who supposedly commits suicide but then apparently views himself from the third person, still alive. I imagine this novel is a treatise on perception but I rushed through it a little too confusedly to savour in its full delight.
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