Vladimir Nabokov's early novel is the dazzling story of the coarse, strange yet oddly endearing chess-playing genius Luzhin. Discovering his prodigious gift in boyhood and rising to the rank of international Grandmaster, Luzhin develops a lyrical passion for chess that renders the real world a phantom. As he confronts the fiery, swift-swooping Italian Grandmaster, Turati, he brings into play his carefully devised defence. Making masterly play of metaphor and imagery, "The Luzhin Defense" is the book that, of his early works, Nabokov felt 'contains and diffuses the greatest warmth'.

纳博科夫是二十世纪公认的杰出小说家和文体家。作为移民作家,他将欧洲贵族趣味与传统修养带进美国文化,又持有深刻而世故的批判与讽刺眼光,这使得他的作品具有特殊的文化品味。擅长反讽、怀旧与滑稽模仿技法；同时又注重语言的锤炼,他以广博学识和文学修养形成令英美本土作家赞叹的英文风格。

一八九九年四月二十三日,纳博科夫出生于圣彼得堡。布尔什维克革命期间,纳博科夫随全家于一九一九年流亡德国。他在剑桥三一学院攻读法国和俄罗斯文学后,开始了在柏林和巴黎十八年的文学生涯。一九四○年,纳博科夫移居美国,在威尔斯理、斯坦福、康奈尔和哈佛大学执教,以小说家、诗人、批评家和翻译家身份享誉文坛,著有《庶出的标志》、《洛丽塔》、《普宁》和《微暗的火》等长篇小说。一九五五年九月十五日,纳博科夫最有名的作品《洛丽塔》由巴黎奥林匹亚出版社出版并引发争议。一九六一年,纳博科夫迁居瑞士蒙特勒；一九七七年七月二日在洛桑病逝。