Thursday, June 3, 2010

Invitation to a Beheading-Vladimir Nabokov

This book is a total dreamscape, really hard to follow. I thought it was just the fact that I was reading it in snatches, but actually, the whole novel turns out to be really disturbing and dislocating.

Cincinnatus C., the main character, is sentenced to death as punishment for "gnostic turpitude," described as him being "opaque" or lacking transparency. So the crime itself if very...well, breaking it down "gnostic" + "turpitude" means going against the rules and regulations of gods. It's a very abstract kind of thing, but in the course of the book, it's easier for someone to understand why he would be executed for this sort of thing.

The entire book basically details Cincinnatus's bizarre stay in the fortress jail. No one will tell him when he's to be executed.

In the end, he manages to escape death. But I guess I shouldn't give away how.

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