# The Stories of Vladimir Nabokov

The Stories of Vladimir Nabokov (in some British editions, The Collected Stories) is a posthumous collection of every known short story that Vladimir Nabokov ever wrote, with the exception of "The Enchanter". In the current printing of this work, sixteen stories not previously published in English are translated by the author's son, Dmitri Nabokov. The collection was first published in America by Alfred A. Knopf in 1995.
As initially published, the collection included 65 stories. Nabokov's first collection of short stories, Nabokov's Dozen, contained thirteen total stories, which made for the structure of all of his subsequent collections, four in his lifetime. In the introduction to the collection, Dmitri Nabokov explains that the newly translated stories were to be his father's final collection. The stories are presented in as close to chronological order as they were able to piece together.
Three additional stories were discovered and translated after the first printing of this collection. They were incorporated in later printings of the U.S. paperback edition and in later printings of the hardback and paperback British editions of this work. The eighth part of the story "The Potato Elf" was accidentally omitted from the first five printings of the hardcover edition of this book.

## List of stories

| English title | Original language | Original publication | Original English collection |
| "The Wood-Sprite" | Russian | Rul' (1921) | - |
| "Russian Spoken Here" | Russian | - (composed 1923) | - |
| "Sounds" | Russian | The New Yorker (1995; composed 1923) | - |
| "Wingstroke" | Russian | Russkoye Ekho (1924) | - |
| "Gods" | Russian | (composed 1923) | - |
| "A Matter of Chance" | Russian | Segodnya (1924) | Tyrants Destroyed and Other Stories (1974) |
| "The Seaport" | Russian | Rul' (1924) | - |
| "Revenge" | Russian | Russkoye Ekho (1924) | - |
| "Beneficence" | Russian | Rul' (1924) | - |
| "Details of a Sunset" | Russian | Segodnya (1924) | Details of a Sunset and Other Stories (1976) |
| "The Thunderstorm" | Russian | Rul' (1924) | Details of a Sunset and Other Stories (1976) |
| "La Veneziana" | Russian | (composed 1924) | - |
| "Bachmann" | Russian | Rul' (1924) | Tyrants Destroyed and Other Stories (1974) |
| "The Dragon" | Russian | (composed 1924) | - |
| "Christmas" | Russian | Rul' (1925) | Details of a Sunset and Other Stories (1976) |
| "A Letter That Never Reached Russia" | Russian | Rul' (1925) | Details of a Sunset and Other Stories (1976) |
| "The Fight" | Russian | Rul' (1925) | - |
| "The Return of Chorb" | Russian | Rul' (1925) | Details of a Sunset and Other Stories (1976) |
| "A Guide to Berlin" | Russian | Rul' (1925) | Details of a Sunset and Other Stories (1976) |
| "A Nursery Tale" | Russian | Rul' (1926) | Tyrants Destroyed and Other Stories (1974) |
| "Terror" | Russian | Sovremennya Zapiski (1927) | Tyrants Destroyed and Other Stories (1974) |
| "Razor" | Russian | Rul' (1926) | - |
| "The Passenger" | Russian | Rul' (1927) | Details of a Sunset and Other Stories (1976) |
| "The Doorbell" | Russian | Rul' (1927) | Details of a Sunset and Other Stories (1976) |
| "An Affair of Honor" | Russian | Rul' (1927) | A Russian Beauty and Other Stories (1973) |
| "The Christmas Story" | Russian | Rul' (1928) | - |
| "The Potato Elf" | Russian | Rul' (1929) | A Russian Beauty and Other Stories (1973) |
| "The Aurelian" | Russian | Sovremennya Zapiski (1931) | Nabokov's Dozen (1958) |
| "A Dashing Fellow" | Russian | Segodnya (early 1930s) | A Russian Beauty and Other Stories (1973) |
| "A Bad Day" | Russian | Poslednie Novosti (1931) | Details of a Sunset and Other Stories (1976) |
| "The Visit to the Museum" | Russian | Sovremennya Zapiski (1939) | A Russian Beauty and Other Stories (1973) |
| "A Busy Man" | Russian | Poslednie Novosti (1931) | Details of a Sunset and Other Stories (1976) |
| "Terra Incognita" | Russian | Poslednie Novosti (1931) | A Russian Beauty and Other Stories (1973) |
| "The Reunion" | Russian | Poslednie Novosti (1932) | Details of a Sunset and Other Stories (1976) |
| "Lips to Lips" | Russian | Vesna v Fialte (1956) | A Russian Beauty and Other Stories (1973) |
| "Orache" | Russian | Poslednie Novosti (1932) | Details of a Sunset and Other Stories (1976) |
| "Music" | Russian | Poslednie Novosti (1932) | Tyrants Destroyed and Other Stories (1974) |
| "Perfection" | Russian | Poslednie Novosti (1932) | Tyrants Destroyed and Other Stories (1974) |
| "The Admiralty Spire" | Russian | Poslednie Novosti (1933) | Tyrants Destroyed and Other Stories (1974) |
| "The Leonardo" | Russian | Poslednie Novosti (1933) | A Russian Beauty and Other Stories (1973) |
| "In Memory of L. I. Shigaev" | Russian | Poslednie Novosti (1934) | Tyrants Destroyed and Other Stories (1974) |
| "The Circle" | Russian | Poslednie Novosti (presumed; 1936) | A Russian Beauty and Other Stories (1973) |
| "A Russian Beauty" | Russian | Poslednie Novosti (1934) | A Russian Beauty and Other Stories (1973) |
| "Breaking the News" | Russian | unknown, circa 1935 | A Russian Beauty and Other Stories (1973) |
| "Torpid Smoke" | Russian | Poslednie Novosti (1935) | A Russian Beauty and Other Stories (1973) |
| "Recruiting" | Russian | Poslednie Novosti (1935) | Tyrants Destroyed and Other Stories (1974) |
| "A Slice of Life" | Russian | Poslednie Novosti (1935) | Details of a Sunset and Other Stories (1976) |
| "Spring in Fialta" | Russian | Sovremennya Zapiski (1937) | Nabokov's Dozen (1958) |
| "Cloud, Castle, Lake" | Russian | Sovremennya Zapiski (1938) | Nabokov's Dozen (1958) |
| "Tyrants Destroyed" | Russian | Russkiya Zapiski (1938) | Tyrants Destroyed and Other Stories (1974) |
| "Lik" | Russian | Russkiya Zapiski (1939) | Tyrants Destroyed and Other Stories (1974) |
| "Vasiliy Shishkov" | Russian | Russkiya Zapiski (1939) | Tyrants Destroyed and Other Stories (1974) |
| "Ultima Thule" | Russian | Novyy Zhurnal (1942) | A Russian Beauty and Other Stories (1973) |
| "Solus Rex" | Russian | Sovremennya Zapiski (1940) | A Russian Beauty and Other Stories (1973) |
| "Mademoiselle O" | French | Mesures (1936) | Nabokov's Dozen (1958) |
| "The Assistant Producer" | English | Atlantic Monthly | Nabokov's Dozen (1958) |
| "That in Aleppo Once…" | English | Atlantic Monthly | Nabokov's Dozen (1958) |
| "A Forgotten Poet" | English | Atlantic Monthly | Nabokov's Dozen (1958) |
| "Time and Ebb" | English | Atlantic Monthly | Nabokov's Dozen (1958) |
| "Conversation Piece, 1945" | English | The New Yorker (1945) | Nabokov's Dozen (1958) |
| "Signs and Symbols" | English | The New Yorker (1948) | Nabokov's Dozen (1958) |
| "First Love" | English | The New Yorker (1948) | Nabokov's Dozen (1958) |
| "Scenes from the Life of a Double Monster" | English | The Reporter | Nabokov's Dozen (1958) |
| "The Vane Sisters" | English | Hudson Review (1959) | Tyrants Destroyed and Other Stories (1974) |
| "Lance" | English | The New Yorker (1952) | Nabokov's Dozen (1958) |
| "Easter Rain" | Russian | Russkoe Ekho (1925) | 11th U.S. paperback printing (2002) |
| "The Word" | Russian | Rul' (1923) | 15th U.S. paperback printing (2006) |
| "Natasha" | Russian | The New Yorker (2008; composed 1924) | 17th U.S. paperback printing (2008) |

## Editions

* Alfred Knopf, New York, 1995 (hardback) ISBN 0-394-58615-8
* Vintage, New York, 1996 (paperback) ISBN 0-679-72997-6
* Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1996 (hardback) ISBN 0-297-81722-1
* Penguin, London, 1997 (paperback) ISBN 0-14-118051-X
* Penguin, London, 1999 (paperback) ISBN 0-14-018975-0
* Penguin, London, 2001 (paperback) ISBN 0-14-118345-4