Invitation to a Beheading (Masterplots II: World Fiction Series)
At a glance:
- Author: Vladimir Nabokov
- First Published: 1935
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Dystopian
- Time of Work: The future
- Setting: The capital of a fictional European country
- Principal Characters: Cincinnatus C., Pierre, Rodion, Rodrig Ivanovich, Emmie, Roman Vissarionovich, Marthe, Cecilia C.
- Genres: Long fiction, Parable, Dystopian fiction
- Subjects: Prisoners, Crime or criminals, Surrealism, Europe or Europeans, Future, Writing, Capital punishment
- Locales: Europe
The Novel
Invitation to a Beheading is a metaphysical, dystopian novel set in a nameless, timeless, and nightmarish land. The hero, Cincinnatus C., a neurasthenic young teacher of defective children, has been condemned to death for the crime of “gnostical turpitude,” the perception and knowledge of forbidden things in a world where all things are already named and known to all. More concretely, his offense is being opaque in a society whose citizens are all transparent, devoid of fresh perceptions, lacking dark, secret corners in their minds or souls. Cincinnatus is...
[The entire page is 2122 words long]
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