Barbara Wyllie, Nabokov at the Movies: Film Perspectives in Fiction (McFarland, NC, 2003), 298 pp. inc. illustrations. $39.95 (paperback). ISBN 0-7864-1638-6.

This book situates Nabokov within America's literary and cinematic traditions in an attempt to determine his true place in late-twentieth-century American culture. Considering both his Russian and English work equally, it offers detailed analysis of key texts in the light of changing styles and genres of film from early Soviet and German avant-garde cinema to American film noir and the New Hollywood, at the same time exploring affinities with contemporary American writers from F. Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner and Raymond Chandler to Walker Percy and Bret Easton Ellis. The commentary also offers new readings of major texts, particularly Lolita, Ada and Transparent Things, focusing on the role of film and photography in terms of narrative, thematics, visual imagery and characterization.