Biography Essay

Vladimir Nabokov, one of the most important world novelists of the twentieth century, was almost unique in changing languages in mid career, from Russian to English. Not identified with either a particular location or a particular language, Nabokov seems to fit most closely into the group of international modernist authors that George Steiner identified as extraterritorial, whose use of language has a brilliance and playfulness not found in writers trapped within a single tongue and culture.

Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov was born in St. Petersburg, then the Russian capital, its "window on Europe," and its center of culture. His extremely wealthy family were aristocrats (although not members of the nobility) who had served for generations in important government posts. From the age of four, Nabokov studied English, French, and other subjects with private tutors. French was the usual language of the Russian aristocracy, but the family emphasis...