- Mary (novel)
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For the eighteenth century novel by Mary Wollstonecraft, see Mary: A Fiction.
Mary
1st edition (Russian)Author(s) Vladimir Nabokov Original title Машенька (Mashen'ka) Translator Vladimir Nabokov and Michael Glenny Country Russia Language Russian Genre(s) novel Publisher Slovo
McGraw Hill (English)Publication date 1926 Published in
English1970 Media type Print (Hardback & Paperback) ISBN ISBN 0679726209 (recent paperback edition) OCLC Number 19920697 Dewey Decimal 891.73/42 20 LC Classification PG3476.N3 M33 1989 Followed by King, Queen, Knave Mary (Russian: Машенька, Mashen'ka), is the debut novel by Vladimir Nabokov, first published under pen name V. Sirin in 1926 by the Russian language publisher "Slovo".
Contents
Plot introduction
It is the story of Lev Glebovich Ganin, a Russian émigré, displaced by the Russian Revolution. Ganin is now living in a boarding house in Berlin, where he discovers that his long-lost first love, Mary is now the wife of the rather unappealing boarder next door, and that she will be joining her husband soon. Ganin contrives a complex scheme in order to reunite with Mary, who he believes still loves him. The eponymous Mary never appears in the present of the novel, but only in Ganin's reminiscences.
Plot summary
Characters in "Mary"
Lev Glebovich Ganin
Aleksey Ivanovich Alfyorov
Lydia Nikolaevna Dorn
Lyudmila
Klara
Anton Sergeyevich Podtyagin
Mary Alfyorov
Major themes
Film, TV or theatrical adaptations
Film
A film adaptation titled Maschenka after the original Russian title, was released in 1987. The film, directed by John Goldschmidt with screenplay by John Mortimer, starred Cary Elwes as Ganin and Irina Brook as Maschenka. John Goldschmidt won the Cine De Luca Award for directing 'Maschenka" at the Monte Carlo TV Festival.
Publication history
- 1970, USA, McGraw-Hill
- 1989, USA, Vintage International ISBN 0679726209, Pub Date November 1989
English Translation and Authorial Changes
The novel first appeared in English in 1970 in a translation by Michael Glenny "in collaboration with the author." According to Nabokov, "I realized as soon as [we] started that our translation should be as faithful to the text as I would have insisted on its being had that text not been mine."[1] He further stated that "The only adjustments I deemed necessary are limited to brief utilitarian phrases in three or four pages alluding to routine Russian matters ...[and] the switch of seasonal dates in Ganin's Julian Calendar to those of the Gregorian style in general use."[2]
External links
Notes and references
- ^ Vladimir Nabokov, Mary New York: Vintage International, 1989. p. xiv.
- ^ Vladimir Nabokov, Mary New York: Vintage International, 1989. p. xv.
Works by Vladimir Nabokov Novels RussianMary · King, Queen, Knave · The Defense · The Eye · Glory · Laughter in the Dark · Despair · Invitation to a Beheading · The Gift · The Enchanter
EnglishThe Real Life of Sebastian Knight · Bend Sinister · Lolita · Pnin · Pale Fire · Ada or Ardor: A Family Chronicle · Transparent Things · Look at the Harlequins! · The Original of Laura (unfinished fragment)
Short
storiesRussian"The Wood-Sprite" · "Russian Spoken Here" · "Sounds" · "Wingstroke" · "Gods" · "A Matter of Chance" · "The Seaport" · "Revenge" · "Beneficence" · "Details of a Sunset" · "The Thunderstorm" · "La Veneziana" · "Bachmann" · "The Dragon" · "Christmas" · "A Letter That Never Reached Russia" · "The Fight" · "The Return of Chorb" · "A Guide to Berlin" · "A Nursery Tale" · "Terror" · "Razor" · "The Passenger" · "The Doorbell" · "An Affair of Honor" · "The Christmas Story" · "The Potato Elf" · "The Aurelian" · "A Dashing Fellow" · "A Bad Day" · "The Visit to the Museum" · "A Busy Man" · "Terra Incognita" · "The Reunion" · "Lips to Lips" · "Orache" · "Music" · "Perfection" · "The Admiralty Spire" · "The Leonardo" · "In Memory of L. I. Shigaev" · "The Circle" · "A Russian Beauty" · "Breaking the News" · "Torpid Smoke" · "Recruiting" · "A Slice of Life" · "Spring in Fialta" · "Cloud, Castle, Lake" · "Tyrants Destroyed" · "Lik" · "Vasiliy Shishkov" · "Ultima Thule" · "Solus Rex" · "The Word" · "Natasha"
FrenchEnglish"The Assistant Producer" · "That in Aleppo Once..." · "A Forgotten Poet" · "Time and Ebb" · "Conversation Piece, 1945" · "Signs and Symbols" · "First Love" · "Scenes from the Life of a Double Monster" · "The Vane Sisters" · "Lance" · "Easter Rain"
Plays RussianDeath · The Grandfather · The North Pole · The Tragedy of Mr. Morn · The Man from the USSR · The Event · The Waltz Invention
Non-fiction Memoirs & LettersSpeak, Memory · The Nabokov-Wilson letters · Selected Letters, 1940-1977
CriticismStrong Opinions · Nikolai Gogol · Lectures on Literature · Lectures on Russian Literature · Lectures on Don Quixote · Notes on Prosody
Miscellanea Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (Russian translation) ·
Poems and Problems · Lolita: A Screenplay · The Annotated Lolita · Carrousel · A Hero of Our Time (English translation) · Eugene Onegin (English translation) · Father's Butterflies
Categories:- 1926 novels
- Novels by Vladimir Nabokov
- Debut novels
- Novels set in Berlin
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