Vladimir Nabokov began writing  Pnin in 1954, around the time his Lolita was being finalized. It was at first published in period installments in The  New Yorker before a revised version came out in book form, in 1957, a year before Lolita, garnering him his first American success. The novella tells the story of Russian emigré, Professor Pnin, who teaches Russian at a fictional  American College  in New England. Much of the novella draws from Nabokov's own experiences as a professor at Cornell University.
This is the novella's first chapter.