Vladimir Nabokov (2216 words)

Neil Cornwell (University of Bristol)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 2.2.2.00: Post-1917 Writing and Culture in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, 1917-present.
Vol. editors: Neil Cornwell (University of Bristol), Roman Koropeckyj (University of California, Los Angeles), Andrei Rogatchevski (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway.)

Context

Dates

Life: 10-04-1899 to 07-07-1977
Activity: 1916 to 1977

Places

Russia (Birth; Other Activity)
Germany (Primary Activity)
United States (Primary Activity)
United Kingdom, England (Other Activity)
France (Other Activity)

Activities

Autobiographer (Primary)
Literary Critic/ Historian (Primary)
Novelist (Primary)
Story-writer (Primary)
Translator (Primary)
Natural scientist (Other)
Playwright / Dramatist (Other)
Poet (Other)

Other Resources

Related Groups

Metafictional Writing

The reputation of Vladimir Nabokov, in terms of his achievement in establishing himself as a major writer in two literatures, is an extremely rare one in western culture. Joseph Conrad, who may spring to mind as a comparable figure, wrote only in an English which was, in effect, his third language. A closer analogue, in English and French, would be the bilingual Samuel Beckett.

Nabokov is the author of seventeen novels and some sixty-five stories, many of which exist in double versions – Russian-English, or English-Russian: if not originally authored in both languages, then authorised (and definitively polished) by him through collaborative translation (mostly with his son Dmitri). He began writing as a poet in Tsarist …

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Citation: Cornwell, Neil. "Vladimir Nabokov". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 21 March 2002 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=3282, accessed 29 October 2020.]

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