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This first major critical biography of Vladimir Nabokov, one of the greatest of twentieth-century writers, finally allows us full access to the dramatic details of his life and the depths of his art. An intensely private man, Nabokov was uprooted first by the Russian Revolution and then by World War II. Transformed into a permanent wanderer, he did not achieve fame until late in life, with the success of Lolita. In this first of two volumes, Brian Boyd vividly describes the liberal milieu of show more the aristocratic Nabokovs, their escape from Russia, Nabokov's education at Cambridge, and the murder of his father in Berlin. Boyd then turns to the years that Nabokov spent, impoverished, in Germany and France, until the coming of Hitler forced him to flee, with wife and son, to the United States. This volume stands on its own as a fascinating exploration of Nabokov's Russian years and Russian worlds, prerevolutionary and émigré. In the course of his ten years' work on the biography, Boyd traveled along Nabokov's trail everywhere from Yalta to Palo Alto. The only scholar to have had free access to the Nabokov archives in Montreux and the Library of Congress, he also interviewed at length Nabokov's family and scores of his friends and associates. For the general reader, Boyd offers an introduction to Nabokov the man, his works, and his world. For the specialist, he provides a basis for all future research on Nabokov's life and art, as he dates and describes the composition of all Nabokov's works, published and unpublished. Boyd investigates Nabokov's relation to and his independence from his time, examines the special structures of his mind and thought, and explains the relations between his philosophy and his innovations of literary strategy and style. At the same time he provides succinct introductions to all the fiction, dramas, memoirs, and major verse; presents detailed analyses of the major books that break new ground for the scholar, while providing easy paths into the works for other readers; and shows the relationship between Nabokov's life and the themes and subjects of his art. show lessTags
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About halfway through, Boyd republishes an essay on Nabokov's art. This chapter should be required reading for any student who wants to understand the depth of VN's prose. Apparently, he puts it here so that the reader may keep these thoughts in mind as Boyd critiques his novels from this point on.
Boyd is not an objective observer. He unapologetically praises VN at every turn, so the reader should perhaps consult other sources for criticism.
Boyd is not an objective observer. He unapologetically praises VN at every turn, so the reader should perhaps consult other sources for criticism.
Nabokov, Vladimir Vladimirovich, 1899-1977/Authors, Russian > 20th century > Biography/Authors, American > 20th century > Biography
Биография Владимира Набокова, написанная Брайаном Бойдом, повсеместно признана самой полной, достоверной и академической из всех существующих. Первый том охватывает период с 1899 по 1940 - годы жизни писателя в России и европейской эмиграции.
Перевод на русский язык осуществлялся в сотрудничестве с автором, по сравнению с англоязычным изданием в текст были внесены изменения и уточнения.
Перевод на русский язык осуществлялся в сотрудничестве с автором, по сравнению с англоязычным изданием в текст были внесены изменения и уточнения.
Dec 12, 2006Russian
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18+ Works 1,454 Members
Brian Boyd is a University Distinguished Professor in the Department of English at the University of Auckland, New Zealand
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Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- Vladimir Nabokov: The Russian Years
- Original publication date
- 1990
- People/Characters
- Vladimir Nabokov
- Epigraph
- Interviewer: What surprises you in life?
Nabokov:...the marvel of consciousness – that sudden window swinging open on a sunlit landscape amidst the night of non-being. - Blurbers
- Dirda, Michael; Davydov, Sergei; Kramer, Hilton; Grayson, Jane; Coates, Joseph
Classifications
- Genres
- Biography & Memoir, Literature Studies and Criticism, Nonfiction
- DDC/MDS
- 813.54 — Literature & rhetoric American literature in English American fiction in English 1900-1999 1945-1999
- LCC
- PG3476 .N3 .Z59 — Language and Literature Slavic languages and literatures. Baltic languages. Albanian language Slavic. Baltic. Albanian Russian literature Individual authors and works 1917-1960
- BISAC
Statistics
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- 393
- Popularity
- 79,252
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (4.34)
- Languages
- 5 — English, French, German, Russian, Spanish
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 12
- ASINs
- 2
