The Real Life of Sebastian Knight: Vladimir Nabokov

Spurred on by admiration for his novelist half-brother and irritation at the biography written about him by Mr Goodman (`his slapdash and very misleading book`), the narrator, V, sets out to record Sebastian Knight`s life as he understands it. But buried amid the extensive quoting, digressions, seeming explanations and digs, Sebastian`s erratic and troubled persona remains as elusive as ever.

Nabokov`s first novel written in English, The Real Life of Sebastian Knight is a nuanced, enigmatic potrayal of the conflict between the real and the unreal, and the futile quest for human truth.