黑暗中的笑声 (1933)

《黑暗中的笑声》（英语：Laughter in the Dark）；原俄语标题《暗箱》（俄语：Ка́мера обску́ра）是弗拉基米尔·纳博科夫的一部小说，1932年在巴黎俄文报纸《当代报》（Sovremennye zapiski）上连载。

《暗箱》的第一个英译本（Camera Obscura）, 由维尼弗德·罗伊翻译，1936年由伦敦的约纳森·朗出版，作者签名为弗拉基米尔·纳博科夫-西林。纳博科夫对翻译的质量非常不满，于是自己进行翻译，在1938年以现在常见的名称《黑暗中的笑声》出版。有时有人错误地认为他不喜欢这本书，但实际上这本书是基于他生活中非常个人的突破。

这本书讲述了一个中年男子对一个非常年轻女人的感情，导致了一种相互寄生的关系。1955年，纳博科夫再次描写这个主题：《洛丽塔》，达到了非常不同的效果。

Laughter in the Dark (Original Russian title: Ка́мера обску́ра, Camera obscura) is a novel written by Vladimir Nabokov and serialised in Sovremennye zapiski in 1932.

The first English translation, Camera Obscura, was made by Winifred Ray and produced in London in 1935 by John Long, the paperback imprint of Hutchinson Publishing, with the author credited as Vladimir Nabokoff-Sirin. Nabokov was so displeased by the translation's quality that he undertook his own, which was published in 1938 under the now common name, Laughter in the Dark. It is sometimes mistakenly assumed that he was not fond of the book, yet in fact it was based on very personal breakthroughs in his life.

The book deals with a middle-aged man who leaves his wife for a younger woman, who doesn't love him but enjoys the lifestyle he can give her, with terrible consequences for the man.

Characters

The characters were given different names in the English translation. In the following list the names of the characters of the English translation are given first with the original names in parentheses.

Albert Albinus (Bruno Kretschmar) - a wealthy middle-aged art-critic

Margot Peters (Magda Peters) - a 17-year-old aspiring actress, common worker, model, seductress

Axel Rex (Robert Gorn, probably Robert Horn) - A painter from New York and Margot's first lover, also Margot's first broken relationship when he abandoned her

Some minor characters include:

Elisabeth Albinus (Anneliese Kretschmar) - Albert Albinus's wife

Paul (Max) Hochenwart - Elisabeth's brother

Otto Peters - Margot's brother

Frieda - The Albinus' housekeeper

Irma Albinus - Elisabeth and Albert's daughter

Kaspar - A friend of Otto

Udo Conrad (Dietrich von Siegelkranz) - An author and acquaintance of Albert's

Plot

Albinus is a respected, reasonably happy married art critic who lives in Berlin. He lusts after the 17-year-old Margot whom he meets at a cinema, where she works, and woos her over the course of many encounters, primarily with money. His prolonged affair with Margot is eventually revealed to Albinus's wife Elisabeth when Margot deliberately sends a letter to the Albinuses' residence and Albinus is unable to intercept it before it is discovered. Elisabeth leaves with the assistance of her brother, Paul, and takes their daughter, Irma, with her. Rather than disown the young troublemaker, Albinus is even more attracted to Margot. She eventually manipulates him into allowing her to move in to his flat where he resided with his wife, and she sets to working on him getting a divorce so that she might marry him and secure access to his significant wealth. Even when Albinus' daughter, Irma, takes ill and eventually dies of pneumonia, Margot insistently drives a wedge between his old life and his new, in order to totalize her capture of him.

Albinus introduces Margot to Axel Rex at a dinner party, but he does not know the two have previously been lovers. Margot and Rex resume their relationship, and start plotting to get Albinus out of the way and rob him of his money.

Albinus gets Margot her first role as an actress, using his role as financial backer of the film to make up for her lack of talent. At the premiere of the movie, Margot realises how inept she was and is petulant about her public exposure as a mediocre actress. Attempting to appease her wounded ego, Albinus persuades her to take a holiday with the new car he has bought for her. Rex accompanies them as their chauffeur, given that Albinus can barely drive. By this point Rex has wangled his way into Albinus' confidence as a fellow artist, convincing Albinus that he could not possibly be interested in Margot by posing as a homosexual. Rex and Margot's trysts have become increasingly brazen, and the holiday seems an opportunity to further deepen their affair on Albinus' money.