Kamera obskura. Berlin, 1933 (Laughter in the Dark, 1938)

Nabokov developed Kamera obskura [Laughter in the Dark] from the sketch of his earlier, unpublished story Bird of Paradise. It was serialized in Sovremennye zapiski from May 1932 to May 1933, and was excerpted in the Parisian journals Poslednie novosti and Russkii invalid, as well as in the Berlin weekly Nash vek. Despite the dwindling numbers of Russians in Berlin - by the summer of 1931 there were 30,000 - Nabokov was able to draw a full house to two readings in the fall and winter. Though the readings and publication were well received, Nabokov was not satisfied with the novel. But despite the book's flaws, he was eager to see his Russian work brought out in English. In 1936 he sold the rights to Hutchinson & Co., which released Winifred Roy's disastrous version, Camera Obscura, under its John Long imprint. Two years later, Nabokov retranslated it himself, ironing out many of the flaws of the original text along the way to completing it as Laughter in the Dark. The essential plot remained intact, though the character names were changed: unbeknownst to the married Kretschmar (Albert Albinus in the English version), his lover Magda (Margot) takes up with a former flame, Robert Horn (Axel Rex). Even after Kretschmar uncovers the affair and is physically and metaphorically blinded by his anguish, Magda continues to deceive him. Kretschmar confronts her at gunpoint, but dies in the struggle. Harold Strauss's New York Times review faulted Nabokov for his lack of "real sympathy for any of his characters," but identified Laughter in the Dark as a "slight but expertly fashioned . . . psychological novel."

The items listed below pertain to Nabokov's life and career and are the contents of the exhibition at the Humanities and Social Sciences Library, on view from April 23 through August 21, 1999. This checklist, primarily of items from the Library's Nabokov Archive, is included here to provide a sense of the rich holdings in this special collection.

V. Sirin [Vladimir Nabokov]
Kamera obskura
Berlin: Sovremennye zapiski, 1933
Courtesy of Glenn Horowitz Bookseller, Inc.

V. Sirin [Vladimir Nabokov]
Rayskaya Pitisa [Bird of Paradise]
Holograph draft of unfinished novel, signed V. Sirin and dated January 21, 1931
Berg Collection

Vladimir Nabokoff-Sirin
Camera Obscura
Translated by Winifred Roy
London: John Long, 1936
Nabokov's copy, with his holograph interlinear retranslation
Berg Collection

Vladimir Nabokov
Laughter in the Dark
Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1938
General Research Division

Vladimir Nabokov in Berlin, 1936
Photographer unknown
Berg Collection