Otchayanie / Despair - RUSSIAN LANGUAGE EDITION - Azbuka-Klassika pocketbook Author:Vladimir Nabokov, Nabokov Despair (Otchayanie in Russian) was written by Vladimir Nabokov and originally published as a serial in Sovremennye Zapiski during 1934. It was then published as a book in 1936 and later translated to English by the author in 1937. Nabokov revised the second translation in 1965.