More than those of most other comparably illustrious writers, a number of Vladimir Nabokov's works provoke almost polarizing differences in interpretation and actual intention of the author within literary circles. In a letter to the editor of the New Yorker, he concedes the construction of systems "in which a second (main) story is woven into, or placed behind, the semi-transparent surface story" (Dolinin). In practice, such an architectural premise is further complicated by its propensity to dabble in metaphysics and sometimes metafiction. Nabokov's inclusion of meticulous description and word choice coupled with his reliance on unreliable narrators - in "Signs and Symbols", "The Vane Sisters" and "Details of a Sunset" - allows him to explore the boundaries between objective and subjective realities. creating consciously woven narratives on many levels and perhaps enigmatic meaning. Perhaps his best-known and most frequently discussed short story, "Signs and Symbols" tells the story of a boy diagnosed with "referential mania" (Nabokov, "Signs" 600) and his immigrant parents struggle to cope to his condition and recurring suicide attempts during his residence in an insane asylum. The boy is afflicted with a tension of intense paranoia which makes him believe that everything external – trees, stones, clouds – is maliciously conspiring against him, that "everything that happens around him is a reference veiled from his personality and his existence… Everything is a number. and of everything he is the theme” (Nabokov, “Signs” 602). The assumption that every detail is a clue, a cipher leading to some kind of truth or resolution is projected onto the reader (Andrews 142) whose "insistence on pattern and meaning...... middle of paper ......ov, Vladimir. “The Vane sisters.” The stories of Vladimir Nabokov. Ed. Dmitri Nabokov. Np: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 1997. Print. Vintage international series. Drink, Michael. “The Cruelty of Chance: Bend Sinister, “The Vane Sisters”, “Signs and Symbols”. » The magician's doubts: Nabokov and the risks of fiction. London: Chatto & Windus, 1994. 55-82. Rep. in News Criticism. Ed. David Siegel. Flight. 86. Detroit: Thompson Gale, 2006. 158-267. Online literary criticism. Internet. April 10, 2010. Wyllie, Barbara. “Memory and Dream in Nabokov’s Short Fiction.” » Torpid Smoke: The Stories of Vladimir Nabokov. Ed. Steven G. Kellman and Irving Mallin. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2000. 5-19. Rep. in News Criticism. Ed. Thomas J. Schoenberg and Lawrence J. Trudeau. Flight. 86. Detroit: Thompson Gale, 2006. 158-267. Online literary criticism. Internet. April 10. 2010.