Yuri Leving - Böcker

Literature is not only about aesthetics, but also almost equally about economics. The successful marketing of an author and his literary works is more dependent on the activities of cultural merchants than on the particular words and phrases found in the author’s prose. Marketing Literature and Posthumous Legacies focuses on the creation of symbolic capital for the literary legacies of Leonid Andreev and Vladimir Nabokov that was eventually exchanged by cultural merchants for financial and ideological profit. Yuri Leving and Frederick H. White discuss the ways in which certain cultural merchants created symbolic meaning for these two authors through a process of collusion, consecration, and the marketing of tangible and intangible products that lead to some sort of transaction. The promotion and maintenance of posthumous legacies involves an intricate network of personal interests that drive the preservation of literary reputations.

Since its first publication in 1948, one of Vladimir Nabokov's shortest short stories, "Signs and Symbols," has generated perhaps more interpretations and critical appraisal than any other that he wrote. It has been called "one of the greatest short stories ever written" and "a triumph of economy and force, minute realism and shimmering mystery" (Brian Boyd, Vladimir Nabokov: The American Years). Part and parcel of a classical short fiction genre, Nabokov's "Signs and Symbols"--one of his last experiments in short prose--strikes with lexical density and contains a surprising structural element: what the writer had described in his letter to Katharine White, the editor of the New Yorker, as having an "inside," "inner scheme," and "a system of mute responses". The goal of the present collection of essays is to approach the narrative riddles of "Signs and Symbols"-- reproduced here in full -- an open-ended story which invites attempts to break its mysterious code. In doing so, the contributors illuminate the ways in which we interpret fiction, and the short story in particular.

Since its first publication in 1948, one of Vladimir Nabokov's shortest short stories, "Signs and Symbols," has generated perhaps more interpretations and critical appraisal than any other that he wrote. It has been called "one of the greatest short stories ever written" and "a triumph of economy and force, minute realism and shimmering mystery" (Brian Boyd, Vladimir Nabokov: The American Years). Part and parcel of a classical short fiction genre, Nabokov's "Signs and Symbols"--one of his last experiments in short prose--strikes with lexical density and contains a surprising structural element: what the writer had described in his letter to Katharine White, the editor of the New Yorker, as having an "inside," "inner scheme," and "a system of mute responses". The goal of the present collection of essays is to approach the narrative riddles of "Signs and Symbols"-- reproduced here in full -- an open-ended story which invites attempts to break its mysterious code. In doing so, the contributors illuminate the ways in which we interpret fiction, and the short story in particular.

Digital Combat examines how contemporary warfare and historical traumas reshape the study and practice of film in Eastern Europe. Bringing together leading international scholars, the volume interrogates cultural canons, reframes national film histories, and situates recent Ukrainian cinema at the center of urgent debates about violence, testimony, and survival.Structured in four parts, the collection moves from revisiting canonical questions to highlighting women’s voices, the ethics of documentary, and the role of new media. The chapters analyse diverse case studies, including the recovery of early Ukrainian cinema overlooked by Russian imperial narratives; portrayals of the Donbas as a “non-space” caught in perpetual conflict; female filmmakers’ reframing of war and gendered trauma; and the reflexive strategies of documentaries confronting displacement and atrocity. Further chapters explore how digital technologies, smartphones, and TikTok poetry videos transform both the aesthetics of wartime filmmaking and the preservation of cultural memory.By combining close formal analysis with postcolonial and trauma theory, Digital Combat situates Eastern European cinema within a broader global discourse on war, exile, and the ethics of representation. It demonstrates how film and media not only record catastrophe but also create spaces of resilience, agency, and resistance. Timely and interdisciplinary, this book offers essential analyses for scholars of film studies, Slavic and East European studies, cultural memory, and conflict studies.

Adopting the modernist master Vladimir Nabokov as its guide, Nabokov in Motion: Modernity and Movement is an exploration of the radically changing social, historical, technological, and literary culture of the early 20th century, a time when modes of communication and transportation, especially, were changing society in drastic and profound ways.Across seventy microchapters that are by turn serious, ironic, informative, and playful, and which take on topics such as automobiles, trains, airplanes, electricity, elevators, advertisements, telegraphs, and telephones, Yuri Leving offers new ways to understand Nabokov, Russian literature, and technology, modernism, and world material culture. Nabokov’s writings are analyzed against a broad context of prose and poetry and from the point of view of what Leving calls the poetics of urbanism in literature. Nabokov in Motion is a ground-breaking exploration of urban and material themes in literature and creates a complex and vibrant cultural fabric of which Nabokov is the master weaver.

Adopting the modernist master Vladimir Nabokov as its guide, Nabokov in Motion: Modernity and Movement is an exploration of the radically changing social, historical, technological, and literary culture of the early 20th century, a time when modes of communication and transportation, especially, were changing society in drastic and profound ways.Across seventy microchapters that are by turn serious, ironic, informative, and playful, and which take on topics such as automobiles, trains, airplanes, electricity, elevators, advertisements, telegraphs, and telephones, Yuri Leving offers new ways to understand Nabokov, Russian literature, and technology, modernism, and world material culture. Nabokov’s writings are analyzed against a broad context of prose and poetry and from the point of view of what Leving calls the poetics of urbanism in literature. Nabokov in Motion is a ground-breaking exploration of urban and material themes in literature and creates a complex and vibrant cultural fabric of which Nabokov is the master weaver.

The Goalkeeper is a new scholarly almanac devoted to the art of Vladimir Nabokov. Himself an ardent goalkeeper, the author of Lolita viewed soccer as more than a game: “I was less the keeper of a soccer goal than the keeper of a secret” (Speak, Memory). The inaugural collection features contributions from two dozen leading Nabokov scholars worldwide, including academic articles (Neil Cornwell, Gerard de Vries, Samuel Schuman, and others); roundtable discussions (Brian Boyd, Jeff Edmunds, Priscilla Meyer, David Rampton, Leona Toker); interviews (Dmitri Nabokov, Alvin Toffler); archival materials; the Kyoto Nabokov conference report; and book reviews (Pekka Tammi, Zoran Kuzmanovich, Galya Diment). The Nabokov Almanac, edited by Yuri Leving, is affiliated with the Nabokov Online Journal, published since 2007.

This is a new systematisation of the main available data on Nabokov's most complex Russian novel, "The Gift" (1934-1939). From notes in Nabokov's private correspondence to scholarly articles accumulated during the seventy years since the novel's first appearance in print, the work draws from a broad spectrum of existing material in a succinct and coherent way, as well as providing innovative analyses.The first part of the monograph, The Novel, outlines the basic properties of "The Gift" ( plot, characters, style, and motifs) and reconstructs its internal chronology. The second part, "The Text," describes the creation of the novel and the history of its publication, public and critical reaction, challenges of the English translation, and post-Soviet reception. Along with annotations to all five chapters of "The Gift", the commentary provides insight into problems of paleography, featuring unique textological analysis of the novel based on the author's study of the archival copy of the manuscript.

Yuri Leving's "Keys to 'The Gift'" systematises in a succinct and coherent way the main available data on Nabokov's most complex Russian novel - "The Gift (1934-1939)" - from passing notes in the private correspondence to scholarly articles, accumulated during the seventy years since its first appearance in the print. Its first part, 'The Novel' outlines the basic properties of "The Gift": the plot, characters, style, and motifs, as well as reconstructs an internal chronology of the novel. The second part of the monograph, 'The Text' describes the creation of the novel and the history of its publication, public and critical reaction, challenges of the English translation, as well as its post-Soviet reception. Besides annotations to all five chapters of "The Gift", the 'Commentary' provides insights into problems of palaeography featuring unique textological analysis of "The Gift" based on the author's study of the archival copy of the manuscript.

This is a new scholarly almanac devoted to the art of Vladimir Nabokov. Himself an ardent goalkeeper, the author of "Lolita" viewed soccer as more than a game: 'I was less the keeper of a soccer goal than the keeper of a secret' ("Speak, Memory"). The inaugural collection features contributions from two dozen leading Nabokov scholars worldwide, including academic articles (Neil Cornwell, Gerard de Vries, Samuel Schuman, and others); roundtable discussions (Brian Boyd, Jeff Edmunds, Priscilla Meyer, David Rampton, Leona Toker); interviews (Dmitri Nabokov, Alvin Toffler); archival materials; the Kyoto Nabokov conference report; and, book reviews (Pekka Tammi, Zoran Kuzmanovich, Galya Diment). "The Nabokov Almanac", edited by Yuri Leving, is affiliated with the "Nabokov Online Journal", published since 2007.