Vladimir Nabokov: The American Years

by Brian Boyd

Overview

The story of Nabokov's life continues with his arrival in the United States in 1940. He found that supporting himself and his family was not easy—until the astonishing success of Lolita catapulted him to world fame and financial security.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780691024714
Publisher:	Princeton University Press
Publication date:	01/31/1993
Edition description:	REPRINT
Pages:	832
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Brian Boyd is Distinguished University Professor in the Department of English at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. He is the author of the prize-winning Vladimir Nabokov: The Russian Years (Princeton 1990), Vladimir Nabokov: The American Years (Princeton 1991), and Nabokov's Ada: The Place of Consciousness. Referred to in a recent journal as "the great man of Nabokov studies," he has also edited Nabokov's English novels and autobiography for the Library of America and Nabokov's Butterflies for Beacon Press.

Table of Contents

• Frontmatter, pg. i
• Contents, pg. ix
• List of Illustrations, pg. xiii
• Introduction, pg. 1
• 1. Refuge: New York and Stanford, 1940–1941, pg. 9
• 2. Visiting Lecturer: Wellesley and Cambridge, 1941–1942, pg. 35
• 3. Scientist, Writer, Teacher: Cambridge and Wellesley, 1943–1944, pg. 58
• 4. Permanent Impermanence: Cambridge and Wellesley, 1944–1946, pg. 77
• 5. Bend Sinister, pg. 93
• 6. Teaching Literature at Last: Cambridge and Wellesley, 1946–1948, pg. 107
• 7. Russian Professor: Cornell, 1948–1950, pg. 129
• 8. Conclusive Evidence/Speak, Memory, pg. 149
• 9. Teaching European Fiction: Cornell, 1950–1951, pg. 166
• 10. Finding Time for Lolita: Cornell and Harvard, 1951–1953, pg. 199
• 11. Lolita, pg. 227
• 12. Lolita into Print, Pnin onto Paper: Cornell, 1953–1955, pg. 255
• 13. Pnin, pg. 271
• 14. Lolita Sparks: Cornell, 1955–1957, pg. 288
• 15. Eugene Onegin, pg. 318
• 16. Lolita Explodes: Cornell and After, 1957–1959, pg. 356
• 17. Chased by Fame: Europe, America, Europe, 1959–1961, pg. 391
• 18. Pale Fire, pg. 425
• 19. Mask and Man: Montreux, 1961–1964, pg. 457
• 20. Ada Stirs: Montreux, 1964– 1966, pg. 487
• 21. Flying High: Montreux, 1966–1968, pg. 518
• 22. Ada, pg. 536
• 23. Tidying Up: Montreux, 1968–1972, pg. 563
• 24. Transparent Things, pg. 588
• 25. Reinventing a Life: Montreux, 1972–1974, pg. 602
• 26. Look at the Harlequins!, pg. 623
• 27. Unanswered Questions: Montreux, 1974–1977, pg. 643
• Acknowledgments, pg. 665
• Abbreviations, pg. 671
• Notes, pg. 675
• Bibliography, pg. 731
• Index, pg. 759

Editorial Reviews

One of Choice's Outstanding Academic Titles for 1992

"Nabokov has found at last a biographer worthy of him."—-Walter Kendrick, The New York Times Book Review

"[Boyd is] an inspired explicator. . . . In Vladimir Nabokov: The American Years [Nabokov's] life and his art intertwine. They work against each other almost as often as they work with each other, and it takes a biographer as skilled as Brian Boyd to keep track of every fascinating twist and turn."—-Anne Tyler, The Atlantic

"A munificently detailed biography. . . . [Boyd has] put all readers of Nabokov in his debt."—-David Lodge, The Los Angeles Times Book Review

From the Publisher

A munificently detailed biography. . . . [Boyd has] put all readers of Nabokov in his debt.

The Los Angeles Times Book Review - David Lodge

[Boyd is] an inspired explicator. . . . In Vladimir Nabokov: The American Years [Nabokov's] life and his art intertwine. They work against each other almost as often as they work with each other, and it takes a biographer as skilled as Brian Boyd to keep track of every fascinating twist and turn.

The Atlantic - Anne Tyler

Nabokov has found at last a biographer worthy of him.

The New York Times Book Review - Walter Kendrick

A munificently detailed biography. . . . [Boyd has] put all readers of Nabokov in his debt.
— David Lodge

The Los Angeles Times Book Review

[Boyd is] an inspired explicator. . . . In Vladimir Nabokov: The American Years [Nabokov's] life and his art intertwine. They work against each other almost as often as they work with each other, and it takes a biographer as skilled as Brian Boyd to keep track of every fascinating twist and turn.
— Anne Tyler

The Atlantic

Nabokov has found at last a biographer worthy of him.
— Walter Kendrick

The New York Times Book Review

Magnificent last volume of Boyd's critical biography of Vladimir Nabokov (Vladimir Nabokov: The Russian Years, 1990). What comes through here even more strongly than in volume one is not only a new Nabokov, a masterly teacher-scholar-poet- critic-translator-scientist, but also a human being and novelist not to be confused with his own heroes such as Humbert Humbert or Van Veen any more than Shakespeare should be seen as Lear, Hamlet, or Macbeth. Nabokov, though, is widely seen as a supreme narcissist, even by sympathetic readers—but no longer. Boyd revises everything, all of our misreadings and received ideas, and especially those passed on by Andrew Field's apparently insensitive biographies and commentaries. Everywhere throughout this biography fearful literary folk find themselves in the presence of a self-assured man of simple warmth and friendliness, full of fun and understanding, kindness and courtesy, who appreciates "the intelligent and observant people who bring me fruit and wine, or come to repair radiators and radios." Boyd also takes on the Edmund Wilson/Nabokov feud over Nabokov's 13- year, four-volume work on Pushkin's Eugene Onegin—and Wilson fares badly. As Nabokov rises from destitution to world fame, his each work is taken apart here at great length, much as Nabokov would dissect butterfly genitalia, to get at its aesthetic bliss. A small woman, Vera Nabokov often comes through as seen through Vladimir's eye (he was besotted with his wife to his last breath) as she grapples with the herculean labors of typing up his longhand index cards and keeping up with his colossal business needs in a hydra-growth of languages and countries. After Lolita, contractsflood in and the author finds himself working on five books while composing a sixth in his head. What this biography will do for Nabokov can only be guessed. But for the reader it will awaken a great block of humanity. (Photographs—not seen.)

Kirkus Reviews