The Defense (Masterplots II: World Fiction Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Vladimir Nabokov
- First Published: 1929
- Type of Work: Philosophical realism
- Time of Work: The 1910’s and 1920’s
- Setting: Russia and Germany
- Principal Characters: Aleksandr Ivanovich Luzhin, Mrs. Luzhin, Mr. and Mrs. Luzhin, Sr., Luzhin’s Aunt, Valentinov, Turati
- Genres: Long fiction, Philosophical realism
- Subjects: Memory, Suicide, 1910’s, 1920’s, Mental illness, Russia or Russian people, Contests, Chess or chess players
- Locales: Germany, Russia
The Novel
The Defense is the story of Aleksandr Ivanovich Luzhin, a brilliant Russian chess master, who is locked in a losing chess game with madness and death. Having lost one match which ended in madness, he devises a special defense which proves ineffectual in his fatal rematch.
As the novel begins, Luzhin is a morose, solitary boy of ten, spending the last days of summer at the family’s country house near St. Petersburg. His father has just given him the unpleasant news that he is to start school upon their return to town. The boy loathes school....
[The entire page is 2061 words long]
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