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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. When does Nabokov see Mademoiselle again after she is no longer in their household?
(a) In New York after the family emigrates to the U.S.
(b) In London while Nabokov is at Cambridge.
(c) In Paris right before the war.
(d) In Lausanne after the war.

2. What is young Vladimir's main concern?
(a) Whether or not he will be able to go horseback riding.
(b) Whether or not he can play with his friends down the road.
(c) Whether or not he can play in the forest.
(d) Whether or not he will be able to go hunting for new and rare butterflies.

3. What does this hobby do to him?
(a) It isolates him throughout life.
(b) It encourages him to spend time outside.
(c) It helps him make friends.
(d) It encourages him to study.

4. What do the first-class carriages feature?
(a) Leather-covered walls, large mirrors, and wide windows.
(b) Servants at every entrance, caviar, and live music.
(c) Leather-covered walls, leather seats, and wide windows.
(d) Live music, leather seats, and large mirrors.

5. Why is the family forced to leave Russia?
(a) The revolution has ended.
(b) Their religion is being persecuted.
(c) Their visas have expired.
(d) The father is in trouble with the police.

6. It is unusual for aristocrats in Russian to be hanged, and as a child, what does Nabokov call the trail through the woods on the estate where a previous owner had been hanged?
(a) The "Hanging Rope."
(b) The "Road to a Hanging."
(c) The "Path of the Hanged."
(d) The "walk of the Hanged One."

7. What is their mother's reaction when she sees that her children have opened the presents from their stockings early and poorly rewrapped them?
(a) She spots their deception and bursts into tears.
(b) She pretends to not see their poor rewrapping.
(c) She scolds them for trying to deceive her.
(d) She laughs at their attempt at deception.

8. Who are Miss Norcott and Miss Hunt?
(a) Two of Vladimir's tutors.
(b) Two of Vladimir's aunts.
(c) Two of Vladimir's governesses.
(d) Two of Vladimir's girlfriends.

9. To whom does Nabokov feel the strongest bond of kinship?
(a) His mother's paternal grandfather, Nikolay Illarionovich Kozlov.
(b) His father's paternal grandfather, Nikolay Illarionovich Kozlov.
(c) His father's maternal grandfather, Nikolay Illarionovich Kozlov.
(d) His mother's maternal grandfather, Nikolay Illarionovich Kozlov.

10. What is the process by which Vladimir Nabokov writes "Speak, Memory?"
(a) The autobiographical novel is culled from Russian history books.
(b) The autobiographical novel is culled from essays written by the author's son.
(c) The autobiographical novel is culled from essays on his life.
(d) The autobiographical novel is culled from stories told to him by family members.

11. What is Nabokov's favorite medium?
(a) Watercolors.
(b) Drawing.
(c) Oils.
(d) Clay.

12. What is the first memory Nabokov drags from the darkness?
(a) Playing in the yard on the estate.
(b) Being fed by his nanny.
(c) Holding hands with his mother and father, as the three of them walk along a garden path in 1903,
(d) Going on a picnic with his mother and father.

13. To what does the memory of the bracelet lead?
(a) An important memory about his father.
(b) An important memory about Colette.
(c) An important memory about Mademoiselle.
(d) An important memory about his mother.

14. This chapter is the first recorded work, published in French in 1936, under the name "Mademoiselle O."
(a) Chapter Five.
(b) Chapter Four.
(c) Chapter Two.
(d) Chapter Seven.

15. What does Nabokov reveal about his mind?
(a) He always associates sounds with colors.
(b) He has depression.
(c) He has a great short-term memory.
(d) He hallucinates.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is memorable about this first memory?

2. What does this thriving upper-class tourist industry offer?

3. What is the common name for Boletusoften?

4. Soon, the string of nurses transforms into what?

5. What does Nabokov claim stems more from an ecological longing for the place of his birth, than in his family's loss of property and station?

(see the answer keys)

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