The reissue of the classic novel from the author of Lolita which brilliantly portrays one man's ruin through love and betrayal

"Laughter in the Dark is a cruel little masterpiece, one of those books . . . from which nothing could be taken away and to which nothing could be added without damage done." -- The London Times Literary Supplement

"There is probably no more frangible encounter in the whole human gambit than the one between a sensitive, fiftyish man and a cretinous girl one-third his age, and in this short, swift, acrid novel originally published in 1938, the author of Lolita gives it as pitiless a treatment as it has ever had on paper." --New York Sunday Tribune

"Once upon a time there lived in Berlin, Germany, a man called Albinus. He was rich, respectable, happy; one day he abandoned his wife for the sake of a youthful mistress; he loved; was not loved; and his life ended in disaster." Thus begins Vladimir Nabokov's Laughter in the Dark; and this, the author tells us, is the whole story - except that he starts from here, with his characteristic dazzling skill and irony, and brilliantly turns a fable into a chilling, original novel of folly and destruction. Amidst a Weimar-era milieu of silent film stars, artists, and aspirants, Nabokov creates a merciless masterpiece as Albinus, an aging critic, falls prey to his own desires, to his teenage mistress, and to Axel Rex, the scheming rival for her affections who finds his greatest joy in the downfall of others. Published first in Russian as Kamera Obskura in 1932, this book appeared in Nabokov's own English translation six years later. Our edition, based on the text as he revised it in 1960, features a new introduction by Booker Prize-winner John Banville.

VLADIMIR NABOKOV (1899-1977), one of the 20th century's greatest writers in both Russian and English, was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, and spent his adult life in Germany, France, the United States, and Switzerland. In addition to his literary work, he was a passionate lepidopterist and chess player. JOHN BANVILLE, born in 1945 in Wexford, Ireland, is the author of many novels, including The Sea , for which he received the 2005 Man Booker Prize. He has been called "the heir to Nabokov" (Sunday Telegraph).

Also from New Directions by Vladimir Nabokov: The Real Life of Sebastian Knight , Novel, ISBN 0-8112-0327-1 cl. / 0- 8112-0644-0 pbk., and Nikolai Gogol , Bio-critical study, ISBN 0-8112-0120-1 pbk.

Date of Publication: September 2006