The Defense

Compassion and pity aren't enough. That is the lesson Luzhin's wife learns in Nabokov's The Defense. Her mother was correct: She would never love him, and love was likely the only thing that could save him. Luzhin's own problems are less interesting than his wife's. He is captured in a maddening web in which chess and existence are confused, yes, but as a character he never comes into full flower.