The Real Life of Sebastian Knight is Nabokov’s first novel written in English and a sophisticated exploration of biography, authorship, and narrative illusion. The story is told by V., the half-brother of the deceased writer Sebastian Knight, who attempts to reconstruct Sebastian’s life in opposition to a vulgar and inaccurate biography published by a rival. As V. gathers fragments, testimonies, and memories, his account becomes increasingly subjective, revealing as much about the biographer as about his subject.

The novel questions whether a “real life” can ever be faithfully captured in words, suggesting that identity dissolves into competing interpretations. Elegant, ironic, and quietly experimental, the book anticipates Nabokov’s later metafictional concerns with unreliable narration and the deceptive authority of storytelling. 

Editions Poetry London (UK)