Literature / Writers Datebook: April 22
Brief biography of Vladimir Nabokov, Russian-born American novelist, one of 20th century's outstanding
writers, and famous for his masterpiece novel, Lolita, considered a controversial novel in his day. His literary knowledge spanned many languages, and he was a scholar of lepidoptery and literature.
Early Life
Vladimir Nabokov was born on April 22, 1899 in St. Petersburg, Russia, into an aristocratic family. An intelligent child, he learned to speak English and French along with his native Russian. His first poems were published before he was twenty years old.
During the Russian Revolution his family lost its wealth. The family moved abroad in 1919. Nabokov studied at Cambridge University, and from 1922 until 1940 lived first in Germany and then Paris, where he met novelist James Joyce and mixed with Russian refugees. He published nine novels during these years, writing in Russian under the pen name Vladimir Serin. Although his reputation as an novelist grew, he earned little money and had to teach to survive.
Migration to the U.S.
In 1940, Nabokov, his wife and son moved to America, where he took citizenship in 1945. His first novel in English was The Real Life of Sebastian Knight, published when he was 42. From then on he wrote all his books in English.
Nabokov taught at Cornell University from 1948 to 1059, in which he used this experience for his novel Pnin, a comic account of a Russian professor at an American university.
Lolita, a Masterpiece
When he was in his mid-50s, Nabokov published Lolita. It tells the story of a middle-aged man and his passion for his 12-year-old stepdaughter. That time the novel's subject matter shocked many people, but its literary style and humor were praised by critics. Lolita was an instant success, Nabokov's masterpiece. It catapulted him to fame and finally, enabled him to devote to writing.
Vladimir Nabokov died at the age of 78, July 2, 1977.
Quoted from Nabokov's masterpiece, Lolita:
"I am trying to describe these things not to relive them in my present boundless misery, but to sort out the portion of hell and the portion of heaven in that strange, awful, maddening world – nymphet love."
Works by Vladimir Nabokov
Mashenka, 1926 (originally in Russian)
Mary, 1926
King, Queen, Knave, 1928
The Eye, 1930 (originally in Russian)
Laughter in the Dark, 1932
Despair, 1936
The Gift, 1937-1938
Invitation to a Beheading, 1938 (originally in Russian)
The Real Life of Sebastian Knight, 1941
Bend Sinister, 1947
Lolita, 1955
Pnin, 1957
Pale Fire, 1962
Photo Credit:
Vladimir Nabokov. Wikipedia Commons / Public Domain. Accessed April 2010
Resources:
Goring, Rosemary, editor. Larousse Dictionary of Writers. New York: Larousse, 1994
McGovern, Una, editor. Chambers Biographical Dictionary. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap, 2002
Ousby, Ian. The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993
(c) April 2010. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.
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