Vladimir Nabokov Timeline and Summary

•  Back
• More 

• Vladimir is born to a wealthy family in St. Petersburg Russia, in 1899.
• He spends his childhood with many different tutors, including Mademoiselle and Lenski, learning English and Russian, French and math.
• He becomes obsessed with hunting butterflies and begins to build his collection.
• He has his first "love" affair, with a little girl named Colette.
• He writes his first poem, an elegy about butterflies and the passing of time.
• After many crushes, he has his first real love affair with a local girl named Tamara.
• Vladimir publishes his first book of poetry, about his love for Tamara, which everyone agrees is terrible.
• Vladimir and his family are forced to leave St. Petersburg, and end up in Crimea for a little while.
• After it becomes clear things aren't going to just resolve themselves, the family heads to Greece, France, and England.
• Vladimir and his eldest brother Sergey enroll in Cambridge University while the rest of the family leaves for Germany.
• After graduating with honors, Vladimir moves to Berlin, where he meets his wife and they have a son.
• After achieving a little success and a little money for his writing, Vladimir and his family move to France. (World War Two is on its way.)
• The family gets the correct papers to leave Europe and head to the States.
• In America, Vladimir Nabokov writes, publishes, and teaches.
• In 1951, he publishes the first version of this book.
• A few years later, he publishes its Russian translation.
• In 1966, he publishes the book in its final form, having finally gotten his hands on old family documents and pictures he includes in the new revision.