Vladimir Nabokov

Multilingual prose fiction, intricate wordplay, and complex narrative structures characterize a prominent body of twentieth-century literature that includes the famous novel Lolita. Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov, who also published under the pen name Vladimir Sirin, was a Russian and American novelist, poet, translator, and entomologist whose writing bridged Russian émigré culture and mid-century American fiction.

Career & Background

Born in Imperial Russia in 1899 to an aristocratic family in St. Petersburg, Nabokov grew up trilingual in Russian, English, and French. Following the Russian Revolution, he lived in Germany and France between 1922 and 1940. While living in Berlin, where he met his wife, Véra Nabokov, he wrote his first nine novels in Russian before emigrating to the United States in 1940. He became a U.S. citizen in 1945 and taught Russian and European literature at Cornell University from 1948 to 1958 while continuing scientific research in lepidopterology.

Writing Style & Themes

Nabokov's prose is defined by complex structural games, wordplay, unreliable narrators, and meticulous aesthetic detail. Recurring themes across his Russian and English works include exile, memory, artifice, obsession, and the fluidity of time.

Major Works

• Lolita — Published in 1955, this famous novel follows Humbert Humbert's obsession with young Dolores Haze and achieved widespread international acclaim.
• Pale Fire — Published in 1962, this experimental narrative consists of a 999-line poem written by John Shade accompanied by a detailed, eccentric commentary by Charles Kinbote.
• Pnin — Published in 1957, this comedic novel depicts the misadventures of an eccentric Russian emigré professor navigating academic life in the United States.
• Ada, or Ardor: A Family Chronicle — Published in 1969, this expansive novel chronicles the lifelong relationship between Van Veen and Ada on an alternate-world version of Earth.
• Drugie berega — Published in 1954, this Russian-language memoir offers an autobiographical account of Nabokov's early life in pre-revolutionary Imperial Russia.