Invitation to a Beheading by Vladimir Nabokov
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

"Accused of the most terrible of crimes, gnostical turpitude, so rare and so unutterable that it was necessary to use circumlocutions like 'impenetrability', 'opacity', 'occlusion'; sentenced for that crime to death by beheading; emprisoned in the fortress in expectation of the unknown but near and inexorable date [...] "

First book by Vladimir Nabokov that I do not like that much. Nowhere even close to the magnificent greatness of Lolita , and not as compulsively readable and memorable as Speak, Memory , Invitation to a Beheading (written in Russian in 1935, translated into English by the author's son in 1959) offers several unforgettable scenes and profound themes, yet - as a whole - it does not speak to me, though it is quite likely that my foggy geezer brain is simply unable to grasp much of the profundity.

Cincinnatus, convicted of gnostical turpitude, is awaiting execution. He has to endure many customary rituals preceding the beheading ceremony. Several people - his wife, the jail guard, the jail director, his lawyer, even the executioner himself - are trying to convince him to happily participate in the involved process of preparing for being decapitated. They are quite offended when he does not share their enthusiasm about the proceedings and doesn't want to play his role in what he terms their "idiotic production." The somewhat surprising ending of the story is divulged on the back cover. For what purpose, I am asking? To me, the publisher offends the intelligence of readers.

The misguided back cover blurb also attempts to "explain" the novel: supposedly it "embodies a vision of a bizarre and irrational world." I completely disagree: to me, the "message of the novel," if any, is clear: one person is nothing against the society. It is irrational to expect that the world will take any notice of one person. One human being is completely irrelevant for the society as a whole.

There are some fascinating themes in the novel: the dichotomy between the internal world of a person and the external world (their "so-called world"). I believe Nabokov wants the reader to consider which world is more "real." Another persistent motif is one of human opacity or impenetrability. To me, though, this motif is quite opaque and the author's intentions impenetrable.

Two magnificent passages need to be mentioned: a bravura piece on the tunneling work targeting Cincinnatus' cell and a fully Nabokovian fragment of magnificent prose that describes the convict's wife eating a peach:

"Or when you, with eyes closed tight, devoured a spurting peach and then, having finished, but still swallowing, with your mouth still full, you cannibal, your glazed eyes wandered, your fingers were spread, your inflamed lips were glossy, your chin trembled, all covered with drops of the cloudy juice, which trickled down onto your bared bosom, while the Priapus who had nourished you suddenly, with a convulsive oath, turned his bent back to me [...]"

And, of course, there is Emmie, who foreshadows the heroine of Lolita. The novel, although a worthwhile read, is less captivating than it might have been, because of its opacity and impenetrability.

Two and three quarter stars.

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