Το ασυνείδητο είναι δομημένο ως σκακιστική παρτίδα.

Nabokov majstorski ulazi u glavu genijalca, usamljene osobe, fanatika, osobe koja je neshvaćena, možda čak i pomalo autistična. Nabokov te navodi da suosjećaš i razumiješ i zavoliš glavnog lika, šahovskog genijalca Lužina.

A story of an ill fated chess genius. This quote by Oscar Levant pretty much sums it up:

"There's a fine line between genius and insanity. I have erased this line."

2.75

"Let's start if you're willing."
-- Vladimir Nabokov, The Luzhin Defense



G.K. Chesterton once famously quipped in his book Orthodoxy that "Imagination does not breed insanity. Exactly what does breed insanity is reason. Poets do not go mad; but chess-players do. Mathematicians go mad, and cashiers; but creative artists very seldom."

Vladimir Nabokov’s th!rd novel about a lonely chess grandmaster reminds me of  Franz Kafka and a little bit of Melville's Bartleby, the Scrivener. While this isn't my favorite Nabokov (it isn't Pale Fire or Lolita), it is the sweetest. Most of Nabokov's characters are cold, irrational and distant. Luzhin is sad, über-rational and beautiful in his madness.

This novel reminds me of this Randall Munroe cartoon.

History is full of mathematicians, logicians, physicists, and chess Grand Masters whose search for logical conclusions, 'transfinite' sets, perfect stability, etc, drives them nuts. Men who hold an infinite series of answers and thus an infinite possibility for despair. Like Kafka once said, “There is an infinite amount of hope in the universe ... but not for us.”

To men like Luzhin, life and chess are such lonely battles.

Nabokov çok farklı biri. Bir psikolojik karakter ve olgu ancak bu kadar iyi ve edebiyat dahilinde anlatılabilir. Kitap durağan ve ağır. Lakin işte bu ikisinin Nabokov tarafından harmanlanması kitabı farklı yapıyor.

3.5 ⭐

A bit disappointed, actually. I picked up this book expecting a lot, but unfortunately, it didn't quite meet my expectations.

However, it was still a good read. As a chess lover, I enjoyed the mentions of things related to chess and read those pages in a blink. I also appreciated Nabokov's description of the protagonist's state of mind.

I think chess is much harder than people realize. It can literally drive you mad, as it did Bobby Fischer, who said, "I hate chess. I know what chess is all about."

On the other hand, there were parts that felt unrealistic to me and I would have loved more focus on chess and the games played, especially since the book was somehow inspired by the life of Curt von Bardeleben.

Никогда не читала столь яркого отражения того, что в действительности происходит в голове шахматиста. У меня всегда было примерно такое же ощущение от шахматистов. Это люди со своим миром внутри, без внешней оболочки. Имя не важно, прическа, одежда, пафос - все это лишнее, шелуха!

Trajik bir şekilde ilerleyen anlatım okuru en azından beni biraz çöküntüye uğrattı. Final hemen hemen tahmin ettiğim gibi oldu.Harika bir yazar etkileyici bir hikaye olmasına rağmen yanlış zamanda seçilmiş bir kitap oldu . Etrafımızda bu kadar kaos dert varken bunu okumak pek de doğru değildi benim için . Fazla dramatik bir yorum gibi oldu üzgünüm mutlaka okunmalı bence ilerde iyi bir zamanımda tekrardan okurum sanırım.

Ο Λούζιν είναι ένας άνθρωπος με πάθος.Και το μεγάλο πάθος του είναι το σκάκι. Ένα τόσο μαγευτικό και δύσκολο παιχνίδι που αποτελεί έναν κόσμο μόνο του. Μόνο στο άκουσμα της λέξης "σκάκι", ο Λούζιν σκέφτεται κινήσεις και συνδυασμούς για να αποκρυπτογραφήσει τον αντίπαλό του, είτε αυτός είναι πραγματικός είτε δημιούργημα της φαντασίας του. Κλείνεται στον δικό του κόσμο με πιόνια και -όντας πανέξυπνος-αδυνατεί να επικοινωνήσει με την γυναίκα και το περιβάλλον γύρω του. Είναι έρμαιο του πάθους του.
"Τη στιγμή που άρχισε να πέφτει στο κενό, τη στιγμή που ο παγωμένος αέρας εισέβαλε ορμητικά στο στόμα του, εκείνη τη στιγμή πρόλαβε να δει ακριβώς το είδος της αιωνιότητάς που, αναπότρεπτα, υποχρεωτικά και ανεξιχνίαστα, απλωνόταν μπροστά του".
Εξαιρετικά ενδιαφέρουσα ιστορία από τον Nabokov, όμορφη γραφή και πολύ καλή μετάφραση του Μπαμπασάκη.

ششمِ بهمن‌ماهِ هزاروچهارصدوسه | یازده‌وچهل‌دقیقه‌ی‌صبح
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دو روز پیش تمام کردم و هی می‌خواستم چیزی بنویسم که نمی‌شد و دستم نمی‌رفت به واژه‌بستن و نوشتن راجع به استاد شطرنجی که خیلی دوستش دارم. این رمان یک سرگذشت ساده راجع به یک شخصیت ساده نیست! «دفاع لوژین» روایتِ یک نبوغ است و اگر بخواهم دقیق‌تر بگویم روایتِ یک «حل‌شدگی»‌ست. حل‌شدنِ چیزی خارج از زندگی با خودِ زندگی و تشکیل ملغمه‌ای از شطرنج و زندگی و سرانجامی که...
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ترجمه‌ی کتاب دقیق است و ایرادی ازش نمی‌شود گرفت. مقدمه و پیشگفتار را نخوانید بگذارید بعد از اتمام کتاب. دوتا پسگفتار کتاب را حتما بخوانید؛ مخصوصا همان که رضا رضایی نوشته که شاهکار است.
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این اولین کتابی‌ست که از ناباکف می‌خوانم و احساس می‌کنم با یک نابغه توی نوشتن مواجه شده‌ام. بیانِ شاعرانه‌ی ناباکف توی روایت داستان و استفاده‌اش از استعاره و توصیف‌های دقیق و مخصوص‌به‌خودش درخشان است و اگر کسی فرصتش را دارد به‌نظرم بنشیند و مقاله‌ای راجع به جزییات کار ناباکف توی نوشتن بنویسد. مخصوصا استفاده‌اش از استعاره توی داستان.
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همین. حرف‌های زیادی آماده کرده بودم که بنویسم اما الان که آمدم به‌نوشتن دیدم حرف زیادی برای گفتن ندارم. در کل شاهکار است و حرف ندارد. بدون شک یک تجربه‌ی جدید است برای هرکسی که تابه‌حال ناباکف نخوانده.‌
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آن‌جا که می خواهد جعبه‌ی شطرنج چرمی را پنهان کند...

This is a story about obsession. The central character is a child prodigy of chess. We observe his life into his forties. The setting is primarily St. Petersburg and Berlin, although he travels the world from one tournament to the next as his fame grows. It is not the travels that are the book’s focus. The focus is instead how a chess champion might view the world. He sees the black and white of a chessboard in the patches of dark and light squares shadowing landscapes, dwellings and the whole world around him. He sees the moves made by the pawns, the knights, bishops and rooks, and the king and the queen as patterns mirrored in people’s behavior. The game on the board blends into the world around him. The two become indistinguishable; one cannot be separated from the other. What are the consequences?

I like the ending. For me, the ending is clear. Others may disagree. I think Luzhin climbs out the window, in utter panic! He falls to his death. In any case, at the story’s end you are left thinking. You must assemble all that has been said and draw a conclusion that fits.

The prose is wonderful. Nabokov plays with words. He uses words in ways out of the ordinary. The writing makes you smile, it is colorful and one’s senses are pushed off-kilter in a very good way. You can spot Nabokov’s prose a mile away. Inanimate objects come alive—a deep armchair hugs you. A son is referred to by his father as his little “squirt”. Have you paid attention to the fact that when you fill a bathtub with water, the tone emanating from the waterspout changes as the level of water in the tub rises? Nabokov has, and he reminds us of this. Have you thought about how the Baltic Sea looks like a kneeling woman? Go and look; check it out! It is worth reading this book for the prose alone.

Here is another fun tidbit. Luzhin, the central character, the child prodigy cum chess champion, rhymes with illusion. Think about what this says.

Mel Foster narrates the audiobook very well. He speaks clearly and distinctly and at a perfect pace. German and Russian words blend in easily. This is important since the characters and the setting are from these two places. Four stars for the audio narration.

This, Nabokov’s third novel, was originally written and published in Russian, after he had emigrated to Berlin. He began it while “hunting butterflies” in the Pyrenees and completed it on his return to Berlin. Luzhin is based on a chess champion Nabokov actually knew-- Curt von Bardeleben. The book was translated into English by Michael Scammell and the author together. The English translation came out thirty-four years after the book’s first publication in 1930.

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*Lolita 5 stars
*Ada, or Ardor: A Family Chronicle 5 stars
*Speak, Memory 5 stars
*Mary 4 stars
*Laughter in the Dark 4 stars
*Glory 4 stars
*The Real Life of Sebastian Knight 4 stars
*The Luzhin Defense 4 stars
*The Gift 3 stars
*King, Queen, Knave 3 stars
*Pale Fire 2 stars
*Pnin 1 star
*Despair 1 star
*Transparent Things 1 star

*Chess Story by Stefan Zweig 5 stars