by Vladimir Nabokov

isbn: 067972723X
subject: Fiction and Literature
finished: 5/30/2001

After killing himself the narrator of The Eye finds that his thoughts have sufficient momentum to keep going. Unfortunately, his self-created afterlife affords him no more control than he had in life: Smurov is continually at the mercy of what others think of him. Following painful rejection by a woman, he appears to retreat from life, preferring to observe instead of participating. Although The Eye is funnier, it is similar in several respects to Notes From Underground: they share a repressed, inarticulate main character, and both are short, minor works that show off an author's developing talent.