oblivious to the world around him. Rex and Margot take advantage of his handicap. After sending a letter falsely stating that Rex has gone to America, they rent a chalet in Switzerland where Rex poses as Albinus's doctor, although Albinus is unaware of Rex's presence. Rex mocks and tortures Albinus during his recovery. Albinus becomes increasingly suspicious as his ears become more attuned and he perceives someone's presence, although Margot continuously denies his concerns. Paul, Albinus's brother-in-law, suspects forgery when he encounters multiple high value cheques on Albinus' account at their shared bank, with the signature scrawled and the amounts in a different handwriting (Rex and Margot have been bleeding Albinus's accounts dry and coercing him into signing blind). Elisabeth, Albinus' estranged wife, asks her brother to drive to the Swiss residence. There, Paul discovers Rex toying with Albinus in his blinded state while Margot is out. Paul hurriedly bundles Albinus into a vehicle before Margot can return and convince the wretched Albinus otherwise, and escorts Albinus back to the Elisabeth's home, where he is given proper care. After a short time, Albinus receives a call from the porter at his old original Berlin flat informing him that Margot has returned to his flat to collect some things. Finally knowing where she is, he decides to kill her. Without haste, he makes his way to the familiar flat and traps her inside by barricading the door, intending to shoot her with his pistol. He seeks her out by her scent and faint sounds, but when he tries to shoot her she overpowers him, grabs the pistol, and kills him. Film adaptations In 1969, Laughter in the Dark was adapted for film directed by Tony Richardson, which was originally intended to star Richard Burton as Albinus. When he was fired for drunkenness, he was replaced by Nicol Williamson. Anna Karina played Margot and Jean-Claude Drouot played Axel Rex. In December of 2020, writer/director Scott Frank stated that he was developing a new adaptation of the novel, to star Anya Taylor-Joy as Margot. Literary reviews Camera Obscura and Laughter in the Dark, or The Confusion of Texts, by Christine Raguet-Bouvard (translated by Jeff Edwards) Nabokov's Poetics of Vision, or, What Anna Karenina is Doing in Kamera obskura by Thomas Seifrid. External links Laughter in the Dark at the IMDb References 1932 Russian novels 1936 American novels Novels by Vladimir Nabokov Novels first