Written between the 1920s and 1950s, these sixty-five tales--eleven of which have been translated into English for the first time--display all the shades of Nabokov's imagination. They range from sprightly fables to bittersweet tales of loss, from claustrophobic exercises in horror to a connoisseur's samplings of the table of human folly. Read as a whole, The Stories of Vladimir Nabokov offers and intoxicating draft of the master's genius, his devious wit, and his ability to turn language into an instrument of ecstasy.

Contents:

• The Wood-sprite
• Russian Spoken Here
• Sounds
• Wingstroke
• Gods
• A Matter of Chance
• The Seaport
• Revenge
• Beneficence
• Details of a Sunset
• The Thunderstorm
• La veneziana
• Bachmann
• The Dragon
• Christmas
• A Letter that Never Reached Russia
• The Fight
• The Return of Chorb
• A Guide to Berlin
• A Nursery Tale
• Terror
• Razor
• The Passenger
• The Doorbell
• An Affair of Honor
• The Christmas Story
• The Potato Elf
• The Aurelian
• A Dashing Fellow
• A Bad Day
• The Visit to the Museum
• A Busy Man
• Terra incognita
• The Reunion
• Lips to Lips
• Orache
• Music
• Perfection
• The Admiralty Spire
• The Leonardo
• In Memory of L.I. Shigaev
• The Circle
• A Russian Beauty
• Breaking the News
• Torpid Smoke
• Recruiting
• A Slice of Life
• Spring in Fialta
• Cloud, Castle, Lake
• Tyrants Destroyed
• Lik
• Mademoiselle O
• Vasiliy Shishkov
• Ultima Thule
• Solus Rex
• The Assistant Producer
• That in Aleppo Once
• A Forgotten Poet
• Time and Ebb
• Conversation Piece, 1945
• Signs and Symbols
• First Love
• Scenes from the Life of a Double Monster
• The Vane Sisters
• Lance