Synopsis
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