Bend Sinister (novel)
A philosopher resists a totalitarian regime in Nabokov's dystopian novel.
Bend Sinister is a dystopian novel by Vladimir Nabokov, his eleventh novel and second written in English, published in 1947. It is notable for its exploration of totalitarianism and individualism through the story of a philosopher resisting a repressive regime.
Quick Facts
- Author
- Vladimir Nabokov
- Country
- United States
- Language
- English
- Genre
- Dystopian fiction
- Publisher
- Henry Holt and Company
- Published
- 1947
Facts from the source article.
Plot summary
The novel is set in the fictitious Eastern European city of Padukgrad, where a government has arisen following the philosophy of Ekwilism, which discourages individuality and promotes the state as the supreme good. The protagonist, university professor and philosopher Adam Krug, has just lost his wife Olga to an unsuccessful surgery. He is asked by the head of the university and colleagues to sign and deliver a speech endorsing the new government led by Paduk and his Party of the Average Man, but Krug refuses. Through memories, it is revealed that Krug was a classmate of Paduk, whom he bullied and called 'the Toad'. Paduk arrests many of Krug's close associates and opponents of Ekwilism, trying to pressure the influential Krug into promoting the state philosophy. Paduk summons Krug and makes various offers, but Krug refuses even after his friends Maximov, Ember, and Hedron are arrested. Paduk then orders the kidnapping of Krug's young son David. Krug capitulates and agrees to promote Ekwilism in exchange for David's safe return. However, due to a bureaucratic error, David is sent to a rehabilitation clinic for violent prisoners disguised as an orphanage, where he is killed when offered as a 'release' to the inmates. Paduk offers Krug the chance to kill those responsible, but Krug swears at the officials and is imprisoned. Another offer is made to free 24 opponents in exchange for Krug's cooperation, but he refuses and charges at Paduk, only to be shot by henchmen. At this point, Nabokov intervenes in the narration, emphasizing that the story is fictional and Adam Krug never existed.
Background
Nabokov began writing Bend Sinister in 1942 while teaching at Wellesley College, with the greater part composed in the winter and spring of 1945–1946, after World War II. The title underwent several changes, from The Person from Porlock to Game to Gunm, then Solus Rex, before settling on Bend Sinister. The manuscript was sent to editor Allen Tate at Henry Holt in fall 1946 and published on June 12, 1947. Nabokov was disturbed by the pro-USSR sentiment in America after the war, and Brian Boyd writes that the novel was an attempt to show that Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia represented the same brutish vulgarity. In February 1943, Nabokov gave a speech at Wellesley extolling democracy and denouncing totalitarian states. Despite these influences, Nabokov insisted on his aestheticism and disclaimed interest in social commentary, denying comparisons to Kafka and Orwell.
Reception
Reviews of Bend Sinister were generally mixed. The New Republic called it 'at once impressive, powerful and oddly exasperating. The New York Times gave a glowing review, stating that the struggle of free thought against totalitarianism remains relevant. Brian Boyd, in his book Vladimir Nabokov: The American Years, praised the 'jarring self-consciousness' and 'inventiveness and challenge of particular passages' but concluded that the novel 'does not reward us enough as we read to justify all its difficulties and disruptions. The Forward offered retrospective praise, calling it 'one of Nabokov's finest statements on the fight to reclaim freedom and individualism against the pressures of mass culture and victimization.'
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