Join author and translator Monika Zgustova in conversation with translator and writer Sabrina Jaszi on Zgustova’s new novel, A Revolver to Carry at Night – a captivating, nuanced portrait of the life of Véra Nabokov, who dedicated herself to advancing her husband Vladimir Nabokov’s writing career, playing a vital role in the creation of his greatest works.
Véra Nabokov was in many ways the epitome of the wife of a great man: keenly aware of her husband’s extraordinary talent, she decided to make his success her ultimate goal, throughout fifty-two years of marriage until his death in 1977. In a rich, sweeping novel, Monika Zgustova immerses us in the daily life of this remarkable couple, offering insights into their complex personal and professional relationships. Véra considered herself an independent woman, but was she really, when her husband took up so much space? And without Véra, could Vladimir Nabokov have become one of the twentieth century’s greatest writers?
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Praise for A Revolver to Carry at Night
“What a fascinating, intimate look into the complex marriage of Nabokov and his wife, Véra, the woman not only behind the man but making the man—without her, his masterpieces might not have been written. With elegant, precise language Zgustova creates a vivid, provocative portrayal of this passionate, enduring relationship. I couldn’t put it down.” —Jeanne Mackin, author of Picasso’s Lovers
Monika Zgustova is an award-winning author whose works have been published in more than ten languages. She was born in Prague and studied comparative literature in the United States (University of Illinois and University of Chicago). She then moved to Barcelona, where she writes for El País, The Nation, and CounterPunch, among others. As a translator of Czech and Russian literature into Spanish and Catalan—including the writing of Havel, Kundera, Hrabal, Hašek, Dostoyevsky, Akhmatova, Tsvetaeva, and Babel—Zgustova is credited with bringing major twentieth-century writers to Spain. Her book Dressed for a Dance in the Snow: Women’s Voices from the Gulag (Other Press, 2020) was a World Literature Today Notable Translation of the Year.
Sabrina Jaszi is a literary translator based in Alameda, CA, working from Uzbek, Ukrainian, and Russian. Her published translations include the works of Salomat Vafo, Suhbat Aflatuni, O‘tkir Hoshimov, Reed Grachev, Nadezhda Teffi, and Alisa Ganieva. Her co-translation with Roman Ivashkiv of Andriy Sodomora’s The Tears and Smiles of Things (Academic Studies Press) received the American Association for Ukrainian Studies’ Best Translation Prize for 2023–24. She is also a writer with stories and essays published in StoryQuarterly, J Journal, The Paris Review Daily, and elsewhere. She is the co-founder of Turkoslavia, a collective and journal devoted to Turkic and Slavic literature in translation. To learn more, visit Turkoslavia.com.