Vladimir Nabokov

"I would like to spare the time and effort of hack reviewers and, generally, persons who move their lips when reading."

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Source: Vladimir Nabokov (2012). “The Luzhin Defense”, p.7, Penguin UK

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Vladimir Nabokov

Vladimir Nabokov

Novelist

Vladimir Nabokov was a Russian-American novelist known for his intricate prose and exploration of themes like love and memory, particularly in 'Lolita'.

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"Toska - noun /ˈtō-skə/ - Russian word roughly translated as sadness, melancholia, lugubriousness. "No single word in English renders all the shades of toska. At its deepest and most painful, it is a sensation of great spiritual anguish, often without any specific cause. At less morbid levels it is a dull ache of the soul, a longing with nothing to long for, a sick pining, a vague restlessness, mental throes, yearning. In particular cases it may be the desire for somebody of something specific, nostalgia, love-sickness. At the lowest level it grades into ennui, boredom."

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"Mind you, sometimes the angels smoke, hiding it with their sleeves, and when the archangel comes, they throw the cigarettes away: that’s when you get shooting stars."

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