The short story Istreblenie tiranov [Tyrants Destroyed] was written in May and June of 1938, while Nabokov was staying in Menton in the south of France. It was first published in the Parisian émigré journal Russkie zapiski in August of 1938, and later collected in Vesna v Fialte [Spring in Fialta] in 1956. The story appeared in English translation in the collection Tyrants Destroyed and Other Stories (1975), and was then included in The Stories of Vladimir Nabokov (Knopf, 1995, reprinted as Collected Stories, Penguin, 1997).
Tyrants Destroyed is narrated in the first person by a poor art teacher living under a totalitarian regime directed by an …
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Citation: Norman, William. "Tyrants Destroyed". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 25 September 2008 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=21506, accessed 24 November 2024.]