# Invitation to a Beheading

Canonical: https://www.bookquiver.com/vladimir-nabakov/invitation-to-a-beheading/9780141185606

![Invitation to a Beheading](https://quivercdn.com/covers/penguin-classics/vladimir-nabokov/invitation-to-a-beheading_978-01-4118-560-6.jpg?v=2026-04-23%2012%3A15%3A19)

- Book: [Invitation to a Beheading](https://www.bookquiver.com/vladimir-nabakov/invitation-to-a-beheading) ([Invitation to a Beheading.md](https://www.bookquiver.com/vladimir-nabakov/invitation-to-a-beheading.md))
- Authors: [Vladimir Nabakov](https://www.bookquiver.com/vladimir-nabakov)
- Publisher: penguin_classics
- ISBN: 978-01-4118-560-6
- Pages: 192
- Published: 2016-09-01
- Language: en_GB
- Binding: Softcover

## Description

Written in Berlin in 1934, Invitation to a Beheading contains all the surprise, excitement and magical intensity of a work created in two brief weeks of sustained inspiration. It takes us into the fantastic prison-world of Cincinnatus, a man condemned to death and spending his last days in prison not quite knowing when the end will come. Nabokov described the book as 'a violin in a void. The worldling will deem it a trick. Old men will hurriedly turn from it to regional romances and the lives of public figures ... The evil-minded will perceive in little Emmie a sister of little Lolita ... But I know a few readers who will jump up, ruffling their hair'.