Reid's Reviews > Invitation to a Beheading

“...in my dreams the world would come alive, becoming so captivatingly majestic, free and ethereal, that afterwards it would be oppressive to breathe the dust of this painted life.”
― Vladimir Nabokov, Invitation to a Beheading

“I am here through an error—not in this prison, specifically—but in this whole terrible, striped world;”
― Vladimir Nabokov, Invitation to a Beheading

“What are these hopes, and who is this savior?” “Imagination,” replied Cincinnatus.”
― Vladimir Nabokov, Invitation to a Beheading

“I am here through an error—not in this prison, specifically—but in this whole terrible, striped world; a world which seems not a bad example of amateur craftsmanship, but is in reality calamity, horror, madness, error—and look, the curio slays the tourist, the gigantic carved bear brings its wooden mallet down upon me.”
― Vladimir Nabokov, Invitation to a Beheading

“What anguish! Cincinnatus, what anguish! What stone anguish, Cincinnatus—the merciless bong of the clock, and the obese spider, and the yellow walls, and the roughness of the black wool blanket. The skim on the chocolate. Pluck it with two fingers at the very center and snatch it whole from the surface, no longer a flat covering, but a wrinkled brown little skirt. The liquid is tepid underneath, sweetish and stagnant. Three slices of toast with tortoise shell burns. A round pat of butter embossed with the monogram of the director. What anguish, Cincinnatus, how many crumbs in the bed!”
― Vladimir Nabokov, Invitation to a Beheading

“Or is this all but obsolete romantic rot, Cincinnatus?”
― Vladimir Nabokov, Invitation to a Beheading