In what year was Nabokov born? Photo and biography of Nabokov

He liked to highlight the fact that he was born “on the same day as Shakespeare and a hundred years after Pushkin,” while mentioning the symbolic names of the two cultures to which he himself belonged. In Russian literature he is remembered as Vladimir Sirin, whose existence ended a hundred years after Pushkin’s death, when the book “The Gift” was published in 1937. In America he became famous as Vladimir Nabokov, an English-language writer who is completely different from Sirin.

All Nabokov's books are similar complex technology writing that is filled with deep analysis mental state heroes in combination with unexpected plot. The most famous examples of Nabokov’s creations include the novels, “Invitation to Execution,”. The writer became famous in the world after the publication of the scandalous book “Lolita” in 1962. Read Nabokov's books online on our website.

Symbolism in Nabokov's life

Chess and butterflies had symbolic meaning in the writer’s work. Nabokov loved to look for signs of fate, extraordinary symmetry in his life. The two wings of the butterfly are as similar as the English and Russian halves of his work. It's as if the cells are chessboard- eight vertically and eight horizontally - his English and Russian works are placed in a row in equal amount. The dictates of fate did not allow him to complete the ninth novel in Russian and the ninth in English, so as not to break the symmetry.

Brief Biography of Vladimir Nabokov

Vladimir Nabokov was born on April 10 (22), 1899.
The Nabokov family was famous for its rich and noble noble lineage. In addition to Vladimir, the family had four more children. From childhood, all of them were taught to communicate in Russian, English and French, so the writer was fluent in each of them.
Nabokov was extraordinarily talented and versatile. He was interested in science, was a teacher of world and Russian literature, was fond of chess, and had good drawing abilities. He knew how to feel shape, color and then convey it on paper, but not with paints, but with a pen.
The 1917 revolution forced the Nabokovs to leave Russia. At first they stopped in Berlin, lived on the proceeds from the sale of jewelry, and Vladimir also managed to get an education at Cambridge at that time.
In 1927, Nabokov got married and finished his first book, Mashenka. Later, until 1937, 7 more of his novels were published in Russian.
Due to the Nazis' rise to power, the Nabokovs moved to the United States. In America, he made a living by lecturing on literature at universities. Soon his first English-language novels were published (The True Life of Sebastian Knight, Bend Sinister, Pnin). The writer begins work on Lolita, which brought Nabokov status and money.
In 1960 he returned to Europe, where he wrote his last works.
Died great writer on July 2, 1977.

Russian and American writer, poet, translator, literary critic and entomologist.

Pseudonyms: V. Sirin, Vasily Shishkov.

Nabokov's works are characterized by complex literary technique, deep analysis emotional state characters combined with an unpredictable, sometimes almost thriller plot. Among the most famous examples of Nabokov’s creativity are the novels “Mashenka”, “The Defense of Luzhin”, “Invitation to Execution”, “The Gift”. The writer gained fame among the general public after the publication of scandalous romance"Lolita", which was subsequently made into several film adaptations.

Nabokov's range of interests was unusually diverse. He made significant contributions to lepidopterology (a branch of entomology focusing on Lepidoptera), taught Russian and world literature and published several courses of literary lectures, created translations of “Eugene Onegin” and “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” into English language, was seriously interested in chess: he was a fairly strong practical player and published a number of interesting chess problems.

Nabokov about himself:
I am an American writer, born in Russia, educated in England, where I studied French literature before moving to Germany for fifteen years. ...My head speaks English, my heart speaks Russian, and my ear speaks French

Biography
Vladimir Nabokov was born into an aristocratic family of the famous Russian politician Vladimir Dmitrievich Nabokov. The Nabokov family used three languages: Russian, English, and French, thus future writer fluent in three languages early childhood. By in my own words, he learned to read English before he could read Russian. The first years of Nabokov's life were spent in comfort and prosperity in the Nabokovs' house on Bolshaya Morskaya in St. Petersburg and in their country estate Batovo (near Gatchina).

He began his education at the Tenishevsky School in St. Petersburg, where Osip Mandelstam had studied shortly before. Literature and entomology become Nabokov's two main hobbies. Shortly before the revolution, Nabokov published a collection of his poems with his own money.

The revolution of 1917 forced the Nabokovs to move to Crimea, and then, in 1919, to emigrate from Russia. They managed to take some of the family jewelry with them, and with this money the Nabokov family lived in Berlin, while Vladimir was educated at Cambridge, where he continues to write Russian poetry and translates L. Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland” into Russian.

Since 1922, Nabokov became part of the Russian diaspora in Berlin, earning a living by teaching English. Berlin newspapers and publishing houses organized by Russian emigrants publish Nabokov's stories. In 1927, Nabokov married Vera Slonim and completed his first novel, Mashenka. After which, until 1937, he created 8 novels in Russian, continuously complicating his author’s style and experimenting more and more boldly with form. Nabokov's novels not published in Soviet Russia, were a success among Western emigration, and are now considered masterpieces of Russian literature (especially “The Defense of Luzhin”, “The Gift”, “Invitation to Execution”).

The Nazis' rise to power in Germany at the end of the 1930s put an end to the Russian diaspora in Berlin. Nabokov's life with his Jewish wife in Germany became impossible, and the Nabokov family moved to Paris, and with the outbreak of World War II emigrated to the United States. With the disappearance of the Russian diaspora in Europe, Nabokov finally lost his Russian-speaking reader, and the only opportunity to continue his work was to switch to English. Nabokov wrote his first novel in English (“The True Life of Sebastian Knight”) in Europe, shortly before leaving for the United States; from 1937 until the end of his days, Nabokov did not write a single novel in Russian (except for his autobiography “Others”). shore" and the author's translation of "Lolita" into Russian).

In America, from 1940 to 1958, Nabokov made a living by lecturing on Russian and world literature at American universities. His first English-language novels (The True Life of Sebastian Knight, Bend Sinister, Pnin), despite their artistic merit, were not commercially successful. During this period, Nabokov became close friends with E. Wilson and other literary scholars, and continued to work professionally in entomology. Traveling throughout the United States during his vacation, Nabokov worked on the novel Lolita, the theme of which (the story of a pedophile who is attracted to little girls) was unthinkable for its time, as a result of which the writer had little hope of even publishing the novel. However, the novel was published (first in Europe, then in America) and quickly brought it to the author world fame and financial well-being.

Nabokov returns to Europe and since 1960 lives in Montreux, Switzerland, where he creates his latest novels, the most famous of which are Pale Fire and Ada.

Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov is a Russian and American writer, poet, translator, literary critic and entomologist.

Born into the aristocratic family of the famous Russian politician Vladimir Dmitrievich Nabokov. The Nabokov family used three languages: Russian, English, and French - thus, the future writer was fluent in three languages from early childhood. In his own words, he learned to read English before he could read Russian. The first years of Nabokov's life were spent in comfort and prosperity in the Nabokovs' house on Bolshaya Morskaya in St. Petersburg and in their country estate Batovo (near Gatchina).

In March 1922, Vladimir Nabokov's father, Vladimir Dmitrievich Nabokov, was killed. This happened at P. N. Milyukov’s lecture “America and the Restoration of Russia” in the building of the Berlin Philharmonic. V.D. Nabokov tried to neutralize the radical who shot Miliukov, but was shot by his partner.

Since 1922, Nabokov became part of the Russian diaspora in Berlin, earning a living by teaching English. Berlin newspapers and publishing houses organized by Russian emigrants publish Nabokov's stories. In 1927, Nabokov married Vera Slonim and completed his first novel, Mashenka. After which, until 1937, he created 8 novels in Russian, continuously complicating his author’s style and experimenting more and more boldly with form. Nabokov’s novels, which were not published in Soviet Russia, were a success among Western emigration, and are now considered masterpieces of Russian literature (especially “The Defense of Luzhin,” “The Gift,” “Invitation to Execution”).

The policy of the Nazi authorities in Germany in the late 30s put an end to the Russian diaspora in Berlin. Nabokov's life with his Jewish wife in Germany became impossible, and the Nabokov family moved to Paris, and with the outbreak of World War II emigrated to the United States. With the disappearance of the Russian diaspora in Europe, Nabokov finally lost his Russian-speaking reader, and the only opportunity to continue his work was to switch to English. Nabokov wrote his first novel in English (“The True Life of Sebastian Knight”) in Europe, shortly before leaving for the United States; from 1937 until the end of his days, Nabokov did not write a single novel in Russian (except for his autobiography “Others”). shore" and the author's translation of "Lolita" into Russian).

In America, from 1940 to 1958, Nabokov made a living by lecturing on Russian and world literature at American universities. His first English-language novels (The True Life of Sebastian Knight, Bend Sinister, Pnin), despite their artistic merits, were not commercial success. During this period, Nabokov became close friends with E. Wilson and other literary scholars, and continued to work professionally in entomology. Traveling throughout the United States during his vacation, Nabokov worked on the novel Lolita, the theme of which (the story of an adult man who became passionately infatuated with a twelve-year-old girl) was unthinkable for its time, as a result of which the writer had little hope even for the publication of the novel. However, the novel was published (first in Europe, then in America) and quickly brought its author worldwide fame and financial well-being. It is interesting that initially the novel, as Nabokov himself described, was published in the odious Olympia publishing house, which, as he realized after publication, published mainly “semi-pornographic” and related novels.

Nabokov returned to Europe and since 1960 lived in Montreux, Switzerland, where he created his last novels, the most famous of which are Pale Fire and Ada.

In 1967, Nabokov received his first letter from Soviet Union. It was sent by 25-year-old Alexander Goryanin to the address of a New York publishing house and amazed the writer. It was a letter from a READER - about “The Gift”... Several letters were later forwarded by Radio Liberty. Since 1969, Elena Vladimirovna, Nabokov’s sister, traveled to Leningrad as a tourist. In 1977, Bella Akhmadulina met Nabokov. Sergei Ilyin, Goryanin, Mikhail Meilakh translated his novels from English without hope of publication.

1974 - peak political activity Nabokov. In May 1974, he published an appeal in defense of Vladimir Bukovsky. In December, at the request of Karl Proffer, he sent a telegram to the Leningrad branch of the Writers' Union in defense of Vladimir Maramzin. In the fall, he meets for the first time Viktor Nekrasov and Vladimir Maksimov, who left the Soviet Union. On October 6 of the same year, due to a misunderstanding, his historical “non-meeting” occurred with Solzhenitsyn, who in 1972 addressed the Nobel Committee with a request to consider Nabokov’s candidacy.

Throughout the 1970s, the Nabokovs systematically sent money to dissidents and their families through the Proffers. Especially poignant last letter Vera Nabokova, offering the Proffers to take her late husband's clothes for the dissidents...

1922 - Nabokov graduates from Trinity College, Cambridge, where he studies Romance and Slavic languages and literature. In the same year, the Nabokov family moved to Berlin, where his father became editor of the Russian newspaper “The Rudder”. It was in “Rul” that the first translations of French and English poets, Nabokov's first prose.

1922-37 - Nabokov lives in Germany. For the first few years he lived in poverty, earning a living by composing chess compositions for newspapers and giving tennis and swimming lessons, and occasionally acting in German films.

1925 - marries V. Slonim, who became his faithful assistant and friend.

1926 - after the publication of the novel “Mashenka” in Berlin (under the pseudonym V. Sirin), Nabokov gains literary fame. Then they appear the following works: “The Man from the USSR” (1927), “The Defense of Luzhin” (1929-1930, story), “The Return of Chorba” (1930; collection of stories and poems), “Camera Obscura” (1932-1933, novel), “Despair” (1934, novel), "Invitation to Execution" (1935-1936), "The Gift" (1937, separate edition - 1952), "The Spy" (1938).

1937 - Nabokov leaves Nazi Germany, fearing for the lives of his wife and son.

1937-40 - lives in France.

1940-1960 - in the USA. At first, after moving to the USA, Nabokov traveled around almost the entire country in search of work. A few years later he began teaching at American universities. Since 1945 - US citizen. Since 1940, he began to write works in English, which he had been fluent in since childhood. The first English-language novel - " True life Sebastian Knight." Nabokov then wrote the works "Under the Sign of the Illegitimate", "Conclusive Evidence" (1951; Russian translation "Other Shores", 1954; memoirs), "Lolita" (1955; he wrote both in Russian and in English), "Pnin" (1957), "Ada" (1969). In addition, he translates into English: "The Tale of Igor's Campaign", the novel "Eugene Onegin" by A. S. Pushkin (1964; Nabokov himself believed his translation was unsuccessful), the novel by M.Yu. Lermontov "Hero of Our Time", lyric poems Pushkin, Lermontov, Tyutchev.

1955 - the novel “Lolita,” which four American publishers refused to publish, is published in Paris by Olympia Press. In 1962, a film was made based on the novel.

1960-1977 - Nabokov lives in Switzerland. During these years, Nabokov’s works were published in America (books “Poems and Problems” (39 poems in Russian and English, 14 poems in English, 18 chess problems), 1971; “A Russian Beauty and Other Stories” (13 stories, some translated from Russian, and some written in English) (New York). Published “Strong Opinions” (interviews, criticism, essays, letters), 1973; “Tyrants Destroyed and Other Stories” (14 stories, some translated from Russian and some written in English), 1975; “Details of a Sunset and Other Stories” (13 stories translated from Russian), 1976, etc.

1986 - Nabokov’s first publication appears in the USSR (the novel “The Defense of Luzhin” in the magazines “64” and “Moscow”).

Main works:

Novels: “Mashenka” (1926), “The Defense of Luzhin” (1929-1930), “Camera Obscura” (1932-33), “Despair” (1934), “The Gift” (1937), “Lolita” (1955), "Pnin" (1957), "Ada" (1969),
"Look at the harlequins!" (1974),

The story “Invitation to Execution” (1935 - 36), Collection of stories: “The Return of Chorb” (1930), Book of Memories “Other Shores” (1951), Collection “Spring in Fialta and Other Stories” (1956), Poems, Research “ Nikolai Gogol" (1944), Commentary prose translation of "Eugene Onegin" (vol. 1-3, 1964), Translation into English of "The Tale of Igor's Campaign", "Lectures on Russian Literature" (1981), "Conversations. Memories" (1966)

Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov was born in St. Petersburg on April 10 (22), 1899 - on the same day as Shakespeare and 100 years after Pushkin, as he liked to emphasize, and quite expressively described his ancestry in the autobiographical novel “Other Shores”.

The writer's grandfather was the Minister of Justice under Alexandra III, and his father, a famous lawyer, is one of the leaders (along with Pavel Nikolaevich Milyukov) of the Constitutional Democratic (Cadet) Party, a member of the State Duma.

Nabokov Sr. was an Englishman in everyday life, Vladimir was called in the English manner - Lodi - and was taught English before Russian.

In 1911, Vladimir was sent to one of the most expensive educational institutions Russia - Tenishevsky School, although it was famous for class liberalism.

Immediately after the October coup, in November 1917, Nabokov Sr. sent his family to Crimea, while he himself remained in the capital, hoping that the Bolshevik dictatorship could still be prevented. He soon joined the family and entered the Crimean regional government as Minister of Justice.

The Nabokovs, through Turkey, Greece and France, reached England. In the same 1919, Vladimir became a student at Cambridge University, first specializing in entomology, then changing it to literature. In 1922 he graduated with honors.

After graduating from university, Vladimir Nabokov moved to Berlin, where his father founded the emigrant newspaper Rul. At that time, literary and intellectual emigration from Russia was concentrated in the German capital; Russians populated entire neighborhoods.

Translator of articles for newspapers, compiler of chess problems and charades, teacher of tennis, French and English, actor, writer of short sketches and plays, goalkeeper in football team- this is how Vladimir earned his living at first in Berlin. In 1922, at one of the emigrant meetings, his father was killed, overshadowing P.N. Miliukov from a shot by a monarchist (according to other versions - a fascist). This shook Vladimir Nabokov’s religious feelings, and later he pointedly emphasized his atheism, although many pages of his prose contradict this.

Nabokov lived in Berlin until 1937, then, fearing persecution by the fascist authorities, he moved to Paris, and in 1940 he emigrated to America. During the European period, almost all of his best books were written, signed under the pseudonym Sirin. In 1923, two collections of poems were published - “The Mountain Path” and “The Bunch” (both dedicated to the memory of his father). As a prose writer, he began with stories; his first novel, Mashenka, was written in 1926. Then the novels “King, Queen, Jack” (1928), “The Defense of Luzhin” (1929), “The Return of Chorba”, “The Spy” (both 1930), “Feat” (1932), “Camera Obscura” (1933) were published. , "Despair" (1936), "Invitation to an Execution" (1938), "The Gift" (1937-1938), "Solus Rex" ("The Lonely King"; 1940).

Having settled in the United States, Vladimir Nabokov switched to English as a writer. Despite the painfulness of this transition, which he repeatedly admitted, he perceived America as a promised land. Many years later, in an interview in 1969, Nabokov declared his love for her: “America is the only country where I feel intellectually and emotionally at home.” Over the twenty years of his life there, the novels “The True Life of Sebastian Knight” (1941), “Other Shores” (1951 - in English; 1954 - translated into Russian), “Pnin” (1957) were written.

The novel “Lolita” (1955), written in the same place, about a twelve-year-old American “nymphet” who became a “deadly demon” for forty-year-old Humbert, brought him world fame, as well as money.

In 1960, Vladimir Nabokov returned to Europe and settled in Switzerland, choosing the resort town of Montreux, back in student years which struck him with the “completely Russian smell of the local spruce wilderness.”

His novels are coming out" Pale Fire" (1962), "Ada" (1969). Then the novels "Translucent Objects" (1972) and "Look at the Harlequins!" (1974) appear.

Nabokov is the author of a four-volume translation into English of Pushkin's "Eugene Onegin" and commentaries on it, as well as the book "Nikolai Gogol", published in 1944 in the USA in English.

At the end of his life, Nabokov said: “I will never return to Russia... I don’t think that my works are known there...” With this delusion, he passed away in 1977. He was buried in the Swiss cemetery of Clarence in Montreux.