pontalba
21st September 2006, 21:08
Speak, Memory by Vladimir Nabokov
Even the name of this wonderfully lyrical autobiography is commanding. Speak! And speak it does. Of love, of loss, of finding a new life and being able to leap to safety to embrace it. But......Love....more than anything is what Vladimir Nabokov's partial autobiography resonates with. His enduring and all encompassing love for his family. The living and the dead.
It only covers 37 of his 77 years, but what a 37 years it was! St. Petersburg to Cambridge, Berlin and Paris to America. The book ends with his sighting of the ship that will carry Nabokov and his little family to America and safety. The safety that so many were not able for so many terrible reasons to find themselves, including members of his own family.
Nabokov does not give a blow-by-blow account of his life, but in vignettes that 'speak' of his life, and his family's life. He tells the story of his courageous father and the battles for a democratically styled Russia, the powerful personality of his beloved mother, his tragic brother....all is exposed, yet not. The story of his life with Véra, his other self, is given, but not displayed. The love he feels for his little son Dimitri is almost beyond words. All of this is served for the readers enjoyment.
So why are you still here? Arn't you supposed to be on the way to the book store? This is a purchase that will not be regretted. I promise.
Even the name of this wonderfully lyrical autobiography is commanding. Speak! And speak it does. Of love, of loss, of finding a new life and being able to leap to safety to embrace it. But......Love....more than anything is what Vladimir Nabokov's partial autobiography resonates with. His enduring and all encompassing love for his family. The living and the dead.
It only covers 37 of his 77 years, but what a 37 years it was! St. Petersburg to Cambridge, Berlin and Paris to America. The book ends with his sighting of the ship that will carry Nabokov and his little family to America and safety. The safety that so many were not able for so many terrible reasons to find themselves, including members of his own family.
Nabokov does not give a blow-by-blow account of his life, but in vignettes that 'speak' of his life, and his family's life. He tells the story of his courageous father and the battles for a democratically styled Russia, the powerful personality of his beloved mother, his tragic brother....all is exposed, yet not. The story of his life with Véra, his other self, is given, but not displayed. The love he feels for his little son Dimitri is almost beyond words. All of this is served for the readers enjoyment.
So why are you still here? Arn't you supposed to be on the way to the book store? This is a purchase that will not be regretted. I promise.