Nabokov's masterly "Collected Poems" span the decades of his career, from "Music
", written in 1914, to the short, playful "To Vera", composed in 1974. "The Univ
ersity Poem", one of Nabokov's major poetic works, is here in English for the fi
rst time: an extraordinary autobiographical poem looking back at his time at Cam
bridge, with its dinners, girls and memories, it is suffused with rich descripti
on, wit and verbal dexterity. Included too are the surreally comic "A Literary D
inner", the enchanting, "Eve", the wryly humorous "An Evening of Russian Poetry"
and a meditation on the act of creation, 'Tolstoy', as well as verse written on
America, lepidoptery, sport, love and Nabokov's Russian homeland.
