King, Queen, Knave

"The text [appears to have] been revised, and improved, line by line. The work seems early only in the clarity of its intentions. Nabokov's esthetic was already formed, and this book's written to its program. The author's manipulations are quite obvious, even blatant, for we're supposed to see his clever hands holding the crossed sticks, managing the strings. Smoothed (one can't be sure how much), youthful gaucheries perhaps removed, mistakes erased: its date is now much later than it was. Each verb and noun, as though in search of something sweet, fly to their modifications, and this is because the modifications manifest the master: reveal him, praise him--glorify. The result is sometimes fussily decorative, like insistent blossoms on a length of chintz."Nabokov, Vladimir is the author of 'King, Queen, Knave' with ISBN 9780679723400 and ISBN 0679723404.