School IS cool: “Pnin” by Vladimir Nabokov

As some are settling in another academic year, others turn to books to relive those glorious (or dark) academia days!

For that opportunity we propose “Pnin” by Vladimir Nabokov (191 pp).

Written by one of the 20th century’s greatest stylists, this compact novel showcases Nabokov’s luminous prose and his gift for irony and tenderness. The tale is of Timofey Pnin, a bumbling Russian émigré professor at "Waindell College", a stand in for Cornell, where Nabokov himself once taught. It moves between slapstick humor and poignant reflections on exile and memory. Long admired by critics, it is a masterclass in how comedy and tragedy can intertwine within the smallest details of ordinary life.
Of note is that this novel is one of the earliest examples of a “campus novel”, kind of the protonovel of this month’s theme!