The New Yorker: Fiction · The New Yorker
Jonas Hassen Khemiri Reads Vladimir Nabokov
May 1, 2023·57 min·5 clips
Jonas Khemiri reveals how Nabokov's infectious joy in writing transformed his own approach to fiction.
As heard by us
A sharp Nabokov reading, framed by Khemiri's admiration for the strange pleasure and cruelty of style.
Vladimir Nabokov's "A Slice of Life" gives this episode its acid center. Deborah Treisman sets up the archive choice, and Jonas Hassen Khemiri recalls discovering Nabokov in his early twenties, when the sheer pleasure of writing felt almost shameful to him.
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