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remained "untouched". Field indicated that the chapter on butterflies is an interesting example how the author deploys the fictional with the factual. It recounts, for example, how his first butterfly escapes at Vyra, in Russia, and is "overtaken and captured" forty years later on a butterfly hunt in
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writes that the book is witty, funny and wise, "at heart it is … deeply humane and even old-fashioned", with an "astonishing prose". He indicates that while any autobiography is "inherently an act of immodesty", the real subject is the development of the inner and outer self, an act that can plunge
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lists
Nabokov's book among the few truly great autobiographies. While he opines that it is odd that so great a writer as Nabokov has not been able to generate passion in his readers for his own greatest passion, chess and butterflies, he finds that the autobiography succeeds "at making a reasonable
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and the book versions differ. Also, the memoirs were adjusted to either the
English- or Russian-speaking audience. It has been proposed that the ever-shifting text of his autobiography suggests that "reality" cannot be "possessed" by the reader, the "esteemed visitor", but only by Nabokov himself.
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There are variations between the individually published chapters, the two
English versions, and the Russian version. Nabokov, having lost his belongings in 1917, wrote from memory, and explains that certain reported details needed corrections; thus the individual chapters as published in magazines
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The book was instantly called a masterpiece by the literary world. In 2011, Time
Magazine listed the book among the 100 All-TIME non-fiction books indicating that its "impressionist approach deepens the sense of memories relived through prose that is gorgeous, rich and full".
304:"Portrait of My Uncle" (Chapter Three), 1948, gives an account of his ancestors as well as his uncle "Ruka". Nabokov describes that in 1916 he inherited "what would amount nowadays to a couple of million dollars" and the estate
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The book's opening line, "The cradle rocks above an abyss, and common sense tells us that our existence is but a brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness," is arguably a paraphrase of
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observed that while
Nabokov evoked the past through "puppets of memory" (in the characterizations of his educators, Colette, or Tamara, for example), his intimate family life with VĂ©ra and
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in 1943, without indicating that it was non-fiction. Subsequent pieces of the autobiography were published as individual or collected stories, with each chapter able to stand on its own.
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in 1936, portrays his French-speaking Swiss governess, Mademoiselle CĂ©cile
Miauton, who arrived in the winter of 1906. In English, it was first published in
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by his publisher, who feared that readers would not buy a "book whose title they could not pronounce". It was first published in a single volume in 1951 as
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204:. "If you require a sententious opening, here it is. Wedged as we are between two eternities of idleness, there is no excuse for being idle now."
384:"Tamara" (Chapter Twelve), 1949, describes a love affair that took place when he was sixteen, she fifteen. Her real name was Valentina Shulgina.
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The cradle rocks above an abyss, and common sense tells us that our existence is but a brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness.
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311:"My English Education" (Chapter Four), 1948, presents the houses at Vyra and St. Petersburg and some of his educators.
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where he met a nine-year-old girl whose real name was Claude Deprès. As "First Love" the story is also included in
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411:"Gardens and Parks" (Chapter Fifteen), 1950, is a recollection of their journey directed more personally to VĂ©ra.
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Nabokov, Vladimir. Speak, Memory. An
Autobiography Revisited. Penguin Modern Classics, 2016, p. 173.
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issued a new edition with the addition of a previously unpublished section titled "Chapter 16".
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564:"Nabokov in America. Concluding A Biography That Is As Precise And Inspired As Its Subject"
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366:"Lantern Slides" (Chapter Eight), 1950, recalls various educators and their methods.
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348:(Chapter Six), 1948, introduces a lifelong passion of Nabokov; first published in
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pass at understanding that greatest of all conundrums, its author's own life".
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in the United States. The
Russian version was published in 1954 and called
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Nabokov writes in the text that he was dissuaded from titling the book
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355:"Colette" (Chapter Seven), 1948, remembers a 1909 family vacation at
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372:"Curtain-Raiser" (Chapter Ten), 1949, describes the end of boyhood.
387:"Lodgings in Trinity Lane" (Chapter Thirteen), 1951, published in
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in 1951. Nabokov's revised and extended edition appeared in 1966.
369:"My Russian Education" (Chapter Nine), 1948, depicts his father.
297:"Portrait of My Mother" (Chapter Two), 1949, also discusses his
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19:"Conclusive Evidence" redirects here. For the legal term, see
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The chapters were individually published as follows—in the
663:"Masterpiece: Nabokov Looks Back at Life Before 'Lolita'"
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apparently being upset by a real biography published by
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in 1841. There is also a similar concept expressed in
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375:"First Poem" (Chapter Eleven), 1949, published in
181:On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and The Heroic in History
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400:"Exile" (Chapter Fourteen), 1951, published in
318:" (Chapter Five), published first in French in
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89:published between 1936 and 1951 to create the
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381:, analyzes Nabokov's first attempt at poetry.
253:Nabokov had planned a sequel under the title
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697:"Nabokov's Brightly Colored Wings of Memory"
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200:, the autobiography of the English writer
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240:Speak, Memory: An Autobiography Revisited
497:VN, The Life and Art of Vladimir Nabokov
194:. The line is parodied at the start of
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112:and at their country estate Vyra, near
604:Richard Gilbert (September 14, 2010).
431:the subject into "the abyss of self".
1360:Vladimir Dmitrievich Nabokov (father)
1271:The Man from the USSR and Other Plays
1228:Details of a Sunset and Other Stories
7:
562:Joseph Coates (September 22, 1991).
1221:Tyrants Destroyed and Other Stories
629:"All-TIME 100 100 Nonfiction Books"
606:"Review: Nabokov's 'Speak, Memory'"
501:. New York: Crown Publishers, Inc.
101:The book is dedicated to his wife,
1214:A Russian Beauty and Other Stories
1170:Spring in Fialta and other stories
14:
884:The Real Life of Sebastian Knight
919:Ada or Ardor: A Family Chronicle
627:Megan Gibson (August 17, 2011).
537:"Speak, Memory. About this Book"
334:collection (1947) as well as in
1235:The Stories of Vladimir Nabokov
340:The Stories of Vladimir Nabokov
85:. The book includes individual
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397:and talks about his brothers.
330:in 1943, and included in the
230:in the United Kingdom and as
523:"Little Wilson and Big God"
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1257:The Tragedy of Mister Morn
338:(1958) and the posthumous
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1408:Victor Gollancz Ltd books
1388:Books by Vladimir Nabokov
852:Invitation to a Beheading
197:Little Wilson and Big God
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21:Incontrovertible evidence
1393:Literary autobiographies
1345:Nabokov House and Museum
393:, describes his time at
122:Russian émigré community
16:Book by Vladimir Nabokov
933:Look at the Harlequins!
668:The Wall Street Journal
659:Joseph Epstein (writer)
264:Look at the Harlequins!
187:On the nature of things
1138:That in Aleppo Once...
493:Field, Andrew (1977).
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215:from his uncle in 1916
211:Nabokov inherited the
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1328:Nabokov's Butterflies
940:The Original of Laura
727:Critical works about
576:on September 27, 2011
461:"Prospero's Progress"
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1403:Metafictional novels
1355:Dmitri Nabokov (son)
838:Laughter in the Dark
327:The Atlantic Monthly
213:Rozhdestveno mansion
159:The Atlantic Monthly
1350:VĂ©ra Nabokov (wife)
1264:The Waltz Invention
1206:Cloud, Castle, Lake
1198:Nabokov's Congeries
1004:The Return of Chorb
990:Details of a Sunset
702:The Washington Post
232:Conclusive Evidence
152:Nabokov published "
120:and as part of the
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1314:Poems and Problems
983:A Matter of Chance
926:Transparent Things
810:King, Queen, Knave
735:2020-03-21 at the
292:Russo-Japanese war
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190:by the Roman Poet
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1191:Nabokov's Quartet
1131:Signs and Symbols
1095:Tyrants Destroyed
1011:A Guide to Berlin
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661:(June 13, 2014).
390:Harper's Magazine
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1296:Notes on Prosody
1145:The Vane Sisters
1088:Spring in Fialta
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695:(May 26, 2004).
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255:Speak on, Memory
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110:Saint Petersburg
83:Vladimir Nabokov
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1060:Lips to Lips
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608:. Word Press
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574:the original
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543:. March 1999
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1306:Miscellanea
1281:Non-fiction
1155:Collections
817:The Defense
612:January 22,
299:synesthesia
1398:1951 books
1382:Categories
708:August 25,
674:August 25,
640:August 25,
580:August 25,
547:August 25,
473:August 24,
447:References
283:New Yorker
242:. In 1999
171:Colorado.
114:Siverskaya
81:by writer
1366:Nabokovia
1321:Carrousel
912:Pale Fire
416:Reception
395:Cambridge
223:Mnemosyne
192:Lucretius
118:Cambridge
66:(1951 UK)
60:Publisher
997:Bachmann
859:The Gift
733:Archived
435:See also
357:Biarritz
352:in 1948.
276:Chapters
139:—
52:Language
1338:Related
1123:English
961:Russian
876:English
845:Despair
824:The Eye
795:Russian
781:(works)
525:. 1986.
321:Mesures
221:Speak,
55:English
1105:French
1067:Orache
976:Sounds
898:Lolita
788:Novels
505:
168:Dmitri
144:, the
126:Berlin
87:essays
79:memoir
44:Author
1249:Plays
1074:Music
1025:Razor
831:Glory
130:Paris
97:Scope
77:is a
905:Pnin
803:Mary
710:2015
676:2015
642:2015
614:2018
582:2015
549:2015
503:ISBN
475:2015
128:and
103:VĂ©ra
257:or
124:in
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