{"product_id":"2026770001696-secondhand-the-defence","title":"The Defence","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition remarks:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBook: Good                          \u003cbr\u003eJacket: Worn\/faded, no tears\u003cbr\u003ePages: Good         ,          price clipped\u003cbr\u003eMarkings: Previous owner\u003cbr\u003eCondition remarks: Jacket protected by mylar sleeve. Previous owner on front end page. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA masterwork of literary fiction, The Defence chronicles the tragic life of Aleksandr Ivanovich Luzhin, a socially awkward Russian émigré whose extraordinary genius for chess becomes both his greatest gift and his ultimate undoing. Nabokov constructs a haunting psychological portrait of a man so consumed by the patterns and logic of the chessboard that the boundaries between the game and reality dissolve entirely around him. Written with Nabokov's signature precision and dark wit, the novel illustrates how obsession can simultaneously elevate and destroy a human mind, rendering Luzhin a figure of both profound pathos and unsettling brilliance. The narrative unfolds with the elegant inevitability of a grandmaster's endgame, drawing the reader into Luzhin's increasingly fractured perception of the world. Originally written in Russian in 1930 and later translated into English by the author himself in collaboration with his son Dmitri, The Defence stands as one of Nabokov's most emotionally resonant and technically dazzling early novels.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Secondhand Stock","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48887896113371,"sku":"2026770001696-SECONDHAND","price":40.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0523\/7646\/9701\/files\/ea84aadb-6087-45af-8752-c5774a09a1c7.png?v=1781748168","url":"https:\/\/bookgrocer.com\/products\/2026770001696-secondhand-the-defence","provider":"Book Grocer","version":"1.0","type":"link"}