“The reader should have the artistic, the bouncing, the mental agility to spot the artist’s sleight of hand.”
Legally, the book is still under copyright (published posthumously in 1980 by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich). However, due to the shifting nature of digital archives, often has a borrowing copy available for free. University library portals also provide access. vladimir nabokov lectures on literature pdf
Imagination was a vital component of Nabokov's approach to literature. He believed that readers should use their imagination to inhabit the world of the text, to enter into the minds of characters, and to envision the scenarios described by the author. In his lecture on "The Imagination," Nabokov writes, "Imagination is the real McCoy, the genuine article." (Nabokov, 1980, p. 23). “The reader should have the artistic, the bouncing,