Despair (1934) is Vladimir Nabokov's sixth novel written in Berlin, and his third, after King, Queen, Jack and Camera Obscura, a psychological crime novel that rejects the conventions of the genre. Hermann, a Berlin businessman of Russian-German origin, convinced of his genius, is plotting a crime that, like a work of art, should become a masterpiece of ingenuity and impeccable execution. Life, however, turns out to be much wittier and more artistic than a vicious plan, the distorting mirror of which only distorts reality. The form of the first-person narrative, the hero-narrator’s belief in his own exclusivity and brilliant style bring “Despair” closer to “Lolita” written twenty years later.