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Vladimir NabokovAnd#8217;s And#8220;Western choiceAnd#8221;And#8212;his exile to the West after the 1917 Bolshevik RevolutionAnd#8212;allowed him to take a crucial literary journey, leaving the closed nineteenth-century Russian culture behind and arriving in the extreme openness of twentieth-century America. InImagining Nabokov: Russia Between Art and Politics, Nina L. Khrushcheva offers the novel hypothesis that because of this journey, the works of Russian-turned-American Vladimir Nabokov (1899And#8211;1977) are highly relevant to the political transformation under way in Russia today. Khrushcheva, a Russian living in America, finds in NabokovAnd#8217;s novels a useful guide for RussiaAnd#8217;s integration into the globalized world. Now one of NabokovAnd#8217;s And#8220;WesternAnd#8221; characters herself, she discusses the cultural and social realities of contemporary Russia that he foresaw a half-century earlier. nbsp; InPale Fire;Ada, or Ardor; Pnin;and other works, Nabokov reinterpreted the traditions of Russian fiction, shifting emphasis from personal misery and communal life to the notion of forging oneAnd#8217;s own And#8220;happyAnd#8221; destiny. In the twenty-first century Russia faces a similar challenge, Khrushcheva contends, and NabokovAnd#8217;s work reveals how skills may be acquired to cope with the advent of democracy, capitalism, and open borders. nbsp; nbsp; Nina L. Khrushcheva is associate professor of international affairs, International Affairs Program, The New School, New York. Vladimir Nabokovs Western choice - his exile to the West after the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution - allowed him to take a crucial literary journey, leaving the closed nineteenth-century Russian culture behind and arriving in the extreme openness of twentieth-century America. In Imagining Nabokov: Russia Between Art and Politics, Nina L. Khrushcheva offers the novel hypothesis that because of this journey, the works of Russian-turned-American Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977) are highly relevant to the political transformation under way in Russia today. Khrushcheva, a Russian living in America, finds in Nabokovs novels a useful guide for Russias integration into the globalized world. Now one of Nabokovs Western characters herself, she discusses the cultural and social realities of contemporary Russia that he foresaw a half-century earlier. In Pale Fire: Ada, or Ardor; Pnin; and other works, Nabokov reinterpreted the traditions of Russian fiction, shifting emphasis from personal misery and communal life to the notion of forging ones own individual happy destiny. In the twenty-first century Russia faces a similar challenge, Khrushcheva contends, and Nabokovs work reveals how skills may be acquired to cope with the advent of democracy, capitalism, and open borders.--BOOK JACKET.