Seminar Introduction

Writing in three languages (French, Russian and English) and on three continents, Vladimir Nabokov (below) enjoyed a career spanning more than 50 years. His body of work is a testament to the power of memory triumphing over both loss and emigration. In this seminar, the director of The New York Public Library's Humanities and Social Sciences Library, 

Rodney Phillips, and writer Sarah Funke explore Nabokov's public life and career through his surviving manuscripts, notes, lectures and photographs.

Born to a wealthy and prominent family in St. Petersburg in 1899, Nabokov developed a love of poetry, a passion for butterflies and a fascination with and mastery of languages in his childhood, and these life-long interests would all figure prominently in his prolific body of work. Exiled from his homeland when he was 20, Nabokov continued to write many stories and novels in his mother tongue. Decades later, he translated much of this work into English, often in collaboration with his son Dmitri. In 1940, he left the tumultuous political climate of Europe, hoping to make a name for himself with an American audience. For 20 years Nabokov supported his family by teaching at Wellesley College and Cornell University; but with the slow-building but eventually worldwide success of his controversial novel Lolita, Nabokov was able to devote his life solely to writing--and butterfly hunting. His large body of English-language works, as well as the translations of his early Russian short stories and novels, then began to garner increasing critical attention--both staunch praise and severe criticism.

Based on selections from The New York Public Library's extensive Vladimir Nabokov Archive, this seminar examines Nabokov's early writings and influences; his experiences with book, magazines and journal publishing in both Europe and America; and his "other" careers as a teacher and a lepidopterist.