One perfect trap after another
It's been many years since I read this, and it was the end of a long trail of Nabokov's novels. After several of his novels, you start to get a feel for the beautiful, impossible, exquisite traps that most characters from Vladimir (rhymes with Redeemer, he once said) build for themselves. They usually amount to some kind of hell and perfection (for that character) in equal measure, and for that reason the traps are inescapable.
But here, with the stories, you get it in rapid fire. Over and over again, the character carefully tends to the work of his or her wonderful prison. The early stories tend to involve a bit more magic and other direct authorial influence.
And the prize of the collection really is the notes from the author. Looking back after some distance from his creations, Nabokov is as delighted with himself as ever. And that is worth the price of admission right there.
