The Spectre of Alexander Wolf [Paperback]

A superb early postmodern classic by one of Nabokov’s fellow émigré writers, rediscovered after more than half a century

This psychological novel takes stock of death, war, violence and the guilt that undergirds it all. — The New York Times Book Review

A man comes across a short story which recounts in minute detail his killing of a soldier, long ago - from the victim's point of view. It's a story that should not exist, and whose author can only be a dead man.

So begins the strange quest for its elusive writer: Alexander Wolf.

A singular classic, The Spectre of Alexander Wolf is a psychological thriller and existential inquiry into guilt and redemption, coincidence and fate, love and death Like Nabokov at his best, Gazdanov teases his reader to trace the sometimes parallel yet often intersecting narrative layers, reminding us again that to read literature means, in many ways, to lose one’s mind. - Andrew Marzoni, Rain Taxi Review of Books

Gaito Gazdanov’s elegantly crafted Proustian novel delves into the eternal ideas of life, death, and identity. - World Literature Today

A masterpiece of modern literature... I haven't read such a humanely fine and moving novel about the great twentieth century Ice Age of the Soul in a long time. - Iris Radisch, Die Zeit

Gaito Gazdanov's compelling, clear, extremely civilised language breaks the resistance of even the most reluctant reader and most obstinate iPhone-addict. ... We decadent Westerners, who are finally allowed to read Gazdanov ... love his contemporary narratory style - because it'sl³v