Insomniac Dreams: Experiments with Time by Vladimir Nabokov [Paperback]

Nabokov's dream diarypublished for the first time

On October 14, 1964, Vladimir Nabokov, a lifelong insomniac, began a curious experiment. Over the next eighty days, immediately upon waking, he wrote down his dreams, following the instructions inAn Experiment with Timeby British philosopher John Dunne. The purpose was to test the theory that time may go in reverse, so that a later event may generate an earlier dream. The resultpublished here for the first timeis a fascinating diary in which Nabokov recorded sixty-four dreams (and subsequent daytime episodes) on 118 index cards, providing a rare glimpse of the artist at his most private.Insomniac Dreamspresents the text of Nabokov's dream experiment, illustrated with a selection of his original index cards, and provides rich annotations and analysis that put them in the context of his life and writings.

USVladimir Nabokov(18991977) was a Russian-American writer whose books include the novelsLolita,Pnin,Pale Fire, andAda.Gennady Barabtarlo(19492019) was professor of literature at the University of Missouri and the author of a number of books on Nabokov. Utterly fascinating. William Boyd,The Guardian

Handsomely designed . . . . [F]ull of the kind of sleep-deprived, iridescently edged complexity that likes to gather around Vladimir Nabokov's work. Nicholson Baker,The New Republic

Dream notes are at the heart ofInsomniac Dreams, and are surrounded by helpful and intriguing background material. Michael Wood,The New York Review of Books

Show[s] in raw form the wit, facility, and inherent discipline of language easily recognizable as Nabokov's handiwork. Publishers Weekly One of The Guardians Best Books of 2017