Laughter in the dark. : rev ed

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.'Both hilarious and deliciously cruel.'-The GuardianAlbinus, 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 classic novel from the author of Lolita, brilliantly portraying one man's ruin through love and betrayal.

Library Journal

Published in Russian in 1932, the novel was translated into English by Nabokov himself in 1938. This edition, however, is based on the author's revised 1960 text. Nabokov again offers one of his sad, silly sots in the character of Albinus, an aging critic who abandons his faithful wife for a teenage mistress also involved with a younger man who takes joy in Albinus's destruction. Cheerful it's not. Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

"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"--Publisher description Als een zakenman verliefd raakt op een jonge vrouw, is het afgelopen met zijn comfortabel bestaan.