A superb early postmodern classic by one of Nabokov`s fellow emigre writers, rediscovered after more than half a century ”A mesmerising work of literature” Antony Beevor ”A work of great potency.. .it punches very much above its weight, & I have a hunch that what`s in it will stay with you for the rest of your life” Nicholas Lezard, Guardian ” This is an original at work, that originality perceived as it were through a veil, as an intrigue, an enigma.. .offering a perception of reality, of death & guilt & the effects of both” George Szirtes, The Times ” Quick-paced, taut prose.. .rendered beautifully in Karetnyk`s accomplished new translation” Ivan Juritz, Independent on Sunday ”A masterpiece of modern literature” Die Zeit ” If Proust had been a Russian taxi driver in Paris in the 1930s...” L` Express A man comes across a short story which recounts in minute detail his killing of a soldier, long ago-from the victim`s point of view. It`s a story that should not exist, & whose author can only be a dead man. So begins the strange quest for the elusive writer ” Alexander Wolf”.A singular classic, The Spectre of Alexander Wolf is a psychological thriller & existential inquiry into guilt & redemption, coincidence & fate, love & death. Gaito Gazdanov, the son of a forester, joined Baron Wrangel`s White Army aged just sixteen & fought in the Russian Civil War. Exiled in Paris from the 1920s onwards, he took on what jobs he could & during periods of unemployment slept on park benches or in the Metro. A job driving taxis at night eventually allowed him to attend lectures at the Sorbonne & write during the day; he soon became part of the literary scene, & was greatly acclaimed by Maxim Gorky, among others. He died in Munich in 1971.