A Nursery Tale: Difference between revisions

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A Nursery Tale is a short story by Vladimir Nabokov written in Russian in Berlin in 1926. It is contained in his collection Tyrants Destroyed and Other Stories and The Stories of Vladimir Nabokov.

Plot summary

Erwin, the protagonist, is shy and “collects” an imaginary harem of women by tagging them mentally when looking from the streetcar. One day, he encounters the Devil in the shape of a German middle-aged women who tells him he can have all the women he can “collect” before midnight provided their number is uneven. Erwin tries to do so.

Comments

The story makes reference to a teenage girl as one of the women Erwin tries to make part of his collection, an early reference to the theme of ephebophilia that is later spun out into the Lolita theme. This may be the earliest reference in Nabokov’s work to the attraction of pubescent girls.

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 ==Plot summary==
-Erwin , the protagonist is shy and “collects” women by tagging them mentally when looking from the [[streetcar]]. One day, he encounters the [[Devil]] in the shape of a German middle-aged women who tells him he can have all the women he can “collect” before midnight provided their number is uneven. He then tries to do so.
+Erwin, the protagonist, is shy and “collects” an imaginary harem of women by tagging them mentally when looking from the [[streetcar]]. One day, he encounters the [[Devil]] in the shape of a German middle-aged women who tells him he can have all the women he can “collect” before midnight provided their number is uneven. Erwin tries to do so.
 ==Comments==
 The story makes reference to a teenage girl as one of the women Erwin tries to make part of his collection, an early reference to the theme of [[ephebophilia]] that is later spun  out into the [[Lolita]] theme. This may be the earliest reference in Nabokov’s work to the attraction of pubescent girls.
 {{Nabokov Prose}}