The Metamorphosis, A Study: Nabokov on Kafka

Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977), whose Lolita (1955) was only the best known of his tours de force, was one of the 20th century's greatest writers. But the Russian-born author, who came to the United States in 1940 after stays in England, Germany, and France, wrote Lolita—the book that brought him fame and financial freedom—while eking out a modest livelihood as a professor of literature at Cornell University in New York. This half-hour 1989 PBS-aired program is a dramatization of one of Nabokov's lectures, from a course called “Masters of European Fiction,” on Franz Kafka's famous short story The Metamorphosis. Christopher Plummer, who also offers a brief introduction about the author, plays Nabokov delivering a talk before a packed classroom, alternating passages from Kafka's bizarre tale (read with almost hypnotic power) with comments on its author, composition, structure, and content. A comparison of the script to the text edited by Fredson Bowers in Nabokov's Lectures on Literature (published after Nabokov's death in 1980) shows that the lecture has been greatly abbreviated, and prefaced with some comments drawn from Nabokov's remarks on “Good Readers and Good Writers” (one must also wonder whether Plummer's extroverted style accurately mirrors the persona of the less histrionic Nabokov). Still, under the sensitive direction by Peter Medak, this film offers a taste of Nabokov's supreme command of language and brilliance of expression, as well as a solid introduction to Kafka's work. It's also a fine tribute to a teacher whom students held in high regard. Recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (F. Swietek)