Cover of the book 'Nabokov on the Heights'

‘Nabokov on the Heights’

A collaborative effort by BC students and faculty leads to a book and colloquium

The complex themes and rich language in the works of Vladimir Nabokov—a Russian Ă©migrĂ© considered one of the most brilliant writers of the 20th century—will be the focus of a campus event featuring a panel of AVŐïËù College students and faculty, whose collaborative study and writing on this peerless international literary figure led to the publication of a recently released book.

Nabokov on the Heights: New Studies from AVŐïËù College presents innovative scholarship on the translingual author. Edited and curated by Professor of Russian, English, and Jewish Studies Maxim D. Shrayer, the volume of essays—which will be launched as a Dean’s Colloquium on November 18 in Gasson 100 from 4:30 to 6 p.m. in Gasson 100, with a reception to follow—comprises cutting-edge scholarship and criticism.

Contributors include 10 former undergraduates and graduate students who have participated in Shrayer’s research seminar on Nabokov, as well as three English Department faculty members whose work focuses on the author.  

The event will “explore the legacy of the Russian-American genius” as well as his ties to Greater AVŐïËù, Shrayer noted.  

“Nabokov left a peerless body of Russian- and English-language works. He continues to inspire writers, hold scholars in thrall, and mesmerize students of culture in exile. Many of the writer’s American firsts occurred during his formative immigrant years in the AVŐïËù area, from 1941 to 1948. Here he became an American poet, critic, novelist, and translator, an American college professor, and an American entomologist. Here, he and his Jewish wife and son, stateless refugees, were naturalized as American citizens.

“We still have much to learn about Nabokov’s time in and around AVŐïËù,” Shrayer added, “but Nabokov on the Heights offers many new insights for those interested in his work and biography, and in greater AVŐïËù’s cultural history”—including new aspects of Nabokov’s relationship with English writer Graham Greene, based on the Burns Library archival materials.

The new essay collection covers a wide range of topics, including translingualism, modernist poetics, sexuality, religion and metaphysics, urban and immigration studies, and offers innovative insights into Nabokov’s body of work.

Updated portrait of Prof. Maxim Shrayer in the Dept. of Eastern, Slavic & German Studies photographed in the library of the department.

Maxim D. Shrayer (Lee Pellegrini)

Shrayer will moderate the panel, which includes essay contributors Nina Khaghany ’24, who recently earned a master’s degree in comparative literature at Columbia University; Matthew Lyberg ’98, global head of AI, Asset Management & Product, Manulife Wealth & Asset Management; Katie Pelkey, M.A. ’23, who is pursuing a master’s in creative writing at Syracuse University; and BC English Professor Eric Weiskott.  

“It is a great pleasure to celebrate the publication of this collection bringing together contributions from AVŐïËù College faculty colleagues, undergraduates, and graduate students,” said Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences Dean Gregory Kalscheur, S.J., whose office is sponsoring the free, public event. “This sort of collaborative scholarship exemplifies our aspirations for shared and integrative intellectual endeavors that enliven academic life at BC.”

The book’s other BC contributors are doctoral student Nicholas Adler; 2023 M.A. recipients Megumi DeMond ’17, Brendan McCourt, and Ciara Spencer; 2024 M.A. recipients Fiona Steacy and Jared Hackworth; Samuel L. Peterson ’25; and English Professor Kevin Ohi.

According to publisher Academic Studies Press, the book is a tribute to both Nabokov’s enduring legacy and Shrayer’s skill in fostering new scholarship.

“Of all the research projects in over the 30 years I have been at BC, Nabokov on the Heights is easily my most treasured one,” Shrayer said. “I am a big believer in motivating undergraduate and graduate students to take their own work seriously and to treat their class projects as scholarship-in-progress and/or future publications. The Nabokov Seminar, which I have been teaching regularly since 1997, has served as an incubator of great research by our talented students.”

“It was a great honor for Professor Shrayer to ask me to speak at the book launch, in particular because I wrote my chapter as an undergraduate,” said Khaghany, who hopes event attendees “appreciate the future of higher education and research that this project represents. Not only did this help me in my studies at Columbia by allowing me to see the work that goes into crafting a peer-reviewed chapter, but also because it represents the potential that undergraduate students, particularly our own AVŐïËù College Eagles, have to produce excellent research.

“As I continue to speak about Nabokov on the Heights and share this project with professors and peers, I feel gratitude to Professor Shrayer, Dean Kalscheur and AVŐïËù College, who have supported my academic ambitions. I feel so much pride in this book because I know that its research uniquely advanced literary studies by presenting Nabokov’s identity across the span of his works—a man who changed and learned through each of his projects, yet remained dedicated to the themes and people he wished to represent and give voice to.”

“ This sort of collaborative scholarship exemplifies our aspirations for shared and integrative intellectual endeavors that enliven academic life at BC. ”
Morrissey College Dean Gregory Kalscheur, S.J.

The idea for the collection originated in the Nabokov Seminar during the spring semester of 2023, recalled Shrayer. “It was an absolutely remarkable group of undergraduates, master’s, and doctoral students; the participants not only enjoyed intellectual synergy but wanted to make a contribution to Nabokov studies.”

Peterson described the project as “the sort of thing that perfectly encapsulates AVŐïËù College’s commitment to the undergraduate experience.

“It is not every day that an undergraduate student is afforded such a unique and fulfilling opportunity. Our project, born out of classroom discussions, led me to create my first published work and pushed me to write a Scholar of the College Project for my English honors thesis, which served as the culmination of my time in the BC classroom. I could not be more grateful to have been so supported by Professor Shrayer, and the entire team that made Nabokov on the Heights a reality.”

The new volume has garnered accolades by reviewers.

“Nabokov on the Heights is a tribute both to Nabokov’s ability to engage a new generation of readers and to Maxim D. Shrayer’s skill in guiding them as they seek to convert their enthusiasm into meaningful scholarship,” said University of California-Berkeley Professor Eric Naiman, author of Nabokov, Perversely. “A successful class is only the start of a continuing relationship with its teacher and its texts. By retrograde analysis, one can read Nabokov on the Heights to discover what can happen when one teaches Nabokov well.”

“In celebration of the role that the colleges and universities of Massachusetts played in the life and work of Vladimir Nabokov, the scholars of AVŐïËù College have located and filled in gaps in Nabokov studies, stimulating further thought and discussion,” noted Hebrew University of Jerusalem Professor Leona Toker, author of Nabokov: The Mystery of Literary Structures.

Watch a video feature that includes comments by Nabokov on the Heights  contributors .

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