Invitation to a Beheading - Vladimir Nabokov

Written in berlin in 1934, invitation to a beheading contains all the surprise, excitement and magical intensity of a work created in two brief weeks of sustained inspiration it takes us into the fantastic prison-world of cincinnatus, a man condemned to death and spending his last days in prison not quite knowing when the end will come nabokov described the book as a violin in a void the worldling will deem it a trick old men will hurriedly turn from it to regional romances and the lives of public figures the evil-minded will perceive in little emmie a sister of little lolita but i know a few readers who will jump up, ruffling their hair