Laughter in the Dark
From Lostpedia
Contents |
Publisher's summary
"Once upon a time there lived in Berlin, Germany, a man called Albinus. He was rich, respectable, happy; one day he abandoned his wife for the sake of a youthful mistress; he loved; was not loved; and his life ended in disaster." Thus begins Vladimir Nabokov's Laughter in the Dark; and this, the author tells us, is the whole story—except that he starts from here, with his characteristic dazzling skill and irony, and brilliantly turns a fable into a chilling, original novel of folly and destruction. Amidst a Weimar-era milieu of silent film stars, artists, and aspirants, Nabokov creates a merciless masterpiece as Albinus, an aging critic, falls prey to his own desires, to his teenage mistress, and to Axel Rex, the scheming rival for her affections who finds his greatest joy in the downfall of others.
In Lost
- Hurley picks up the book and reads it in "Flashes Before Your Eyes". It came out of Sawyer's stash.
- A passage in the book [1] reads "As in his most reckless visions, everything was permissible; a puritan's love, priggish reserve, was less known in this new free world than white bears in Honolulu.
Trivia
- The novel was originally published in 1932, under the Russian title: Камера Обскура. It was translated into English as Camera Obscura in 1936 and then released again with the name Laughter in the Dark in 1938.
- Nabokov translated Alice's Adventures in Wonderland into Russian.
- Synopsis- Albinus, a respectable, middle-aged man and aspiring filmmaker, abandons his wife for a lover half his age: Margot, who wants to become a movie star herself. When Albinus introduces her to Rex, an American movie producer, disaster ensues. What emerges is an elegantly sardonic and irresistibly ironic novel of desire, deceit, and deception, a curious romance set in the film world of Berlin in the 1930s.
- The origin of this story is twisted, it was first written in Russian by Nabokov and published in 1932 and 1933. It was later translated into English by Winifred Roy. Nabokov was tormented by the translation and was contracted to retranslate it.
- The contract read that he was to " translate the said novel into the English Language. " The interesting part being that it had been translated previously, this writing, titled Laughter in the Dark, was in fact a rewrite of his original book and written in English.
- The book's beginning two paragraphs comprise a prologue, an epilogue and a summary, giving away the ending at the start "so as to not be what motivates the reader".
- Laughter in the Dark and the original Russian version share many similar traits with Tolstoy's Anna Karenina. One oft quoted passage from Laughter shows homage to Tolstoy.
"By the way", do tell me, my dear, how did you come to hit on your stage name? It sort of disturbs me."
"Oh, that's a long story," she answered wistfully. "If you come to tea with me one day, I shall perhaps tell you more about it. The boy who suggested this name committed suicide."
"Ah–and no wonder. But what I wanted to know... Tell me, have you read Tolstoy?"
"Doll's Toy?" queried Dorianna Karenina. "No, I'm afraid not. Why?"
See also
