Lushins Verteidigung / Der Späher / Die Mutprobe

The second volume of the edition contains Vladimir Nabokov's early novels, originally published in Russian, "Lushin's Defence" (1929/1930), "The Scout" (1930) and "The Test of Courage" (1931/1932). "Lushin's Defence" tells the life story of a man who has fallen for a great obsession - chess. The text is considered a stroke of genius by the young author. "The scout presents himself superficially as an unhappy love story. This short novel is an example of masterful psychological criminology. The developmental novel "The Test of Courage" is melancholically reminiscent of Nabokov's Russian homeland. Its main character Martin Edelweiss is a rootless emigrant, with ambition but no goal, and a life without a plan. In Berlin the destiny of all the protagonists of these three novels is fulfilled. In Berlin, Vladimir Nabokov became a Russian between 1922 and 1937.