The Vane Sisters (Masterplots II: Short Story Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Vladimir Nabokov
- First Published: 1959
- Type of Plot: Fantasy
- Time of Work: The early 1950's
- Setting: New England and New York City
- Principal Characters: The narrator, Cynthia Vane, Sybil Vane, D.
- Genres: Short fiction, Fantasy
- Subjects: 1950’s, Teaching or teachers, New York, North America or North Americans, Northeast, U.S., United States or Americans, Suicide, New York City, Ghosts or apparitions, New England, Sisters, Death or dying, Colleges or universities
- Locales: New York, NY, New England
The Story
The unnamed narrator, a French professor at a New England women's college, runs into D., whom he has not seen for several years, and hears about the recent death of Cynthia Vane. Four years earlier, the narrator knew D. and Cynthia in the small town where he still teaches literature. He is surprised to find D., a former instructor at his school, revisiting the site of unpleasant memories. D.'s shame is an extramarital affair that he had conducted with Cynthia's younger sister, Sybil, who was one of the narrator's students.
Cynthia once summoned the narrator to...
[The entire page is 1579 words long]
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