Despair is the wickedly inventive and richly derisive story of Hermann Karlovich, a man who undertakes the perfect crime—his own murder.

Extensively revised by Nabokov in 1965, the novel offers a masterly portrait of Hermann, who is rapt in his own reality, incapable of escaping or explicating it. Hermann is a compelling character in the fascinating gallery of living characters Vladimir Nabokov has given to world literature.

In his pseudo-worldliness and odd genius, Hermann stands alongside other neurotic Nabokovian creations. Despair is illuminated throughout by the virtuosity and cunning wit that are Nabokov’s hallmarks.