View a FREE sample

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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. What puts Nabokov at odds with many of his colleagues?
(a) His inability to speak English.
(b) His desire to emigrate to the United States.
(c) His Russian accent.
(d) His opinions of the state of affairs in his home country.

2. What does she tell him when he is finished reciting the poem?
(a) He should find another hobby.
(b) She proclaims it wonderful and beyond compare.
(c) Studying butterflies is a better way to spend one's day.
(d) He should have it published.

3. What is Lenski's idea for the use of Magic-Lantern Projections?
(a) To illustrate petic works with the use of slides.
(b) To create special effects on the wall.
(c) To play in the light from the lanterns.
(d) To create shadow puppets.

4. How does Nabokov's father die?
(a) He has a heart attack in Paris.
(b) He is assassinated in Berlin.
(c) He commits suicide in Paris.
(d) He has a stroke in Berlin.

5. What country does the family travel through on their way to London?
(a) Belgium.
(b) Greece.
(c) France.
(d) Italy.

6. Why is Nabokov's tutor rebuked by his mother?
(a) He spies on the young couple.
(b) He is being rude to her children.
(c) He is not doing an adequate job.
(d) He is repeatedly late.

7. What does the revolution do to most of the Russian writers and artists?
(a) Hires them to write about the revolution.
(b) Sends them into exile.
(c) Gives them subjects for their work.
(d) Increases their fame.

8. Vladimir is raised by his own share of governesses and tutors but where does he go at the age of 13?
(a) St. Petersburg Academy.
(b) Poly Preparatory.
(c) Berkshire Boys Academy.
(d) The Gymnasium.

9. Who rents a modest summer cottage called a dachka?
(a) Tamara's parents.
(b) Colette parents.
(c) Nabokov's uncle.
(d) The Nabokov family.

10. What happens, when winter comes, to their love affair?
(a) It has to endure a life of closer scrutiny.
(b) It fades to nothing.
(c) It comes out in the open.
(d) It ends.

11. How does Sergei save the brothers from the Bolsheviks on the train?
(a) He holds them out a window.
(b) He shoots at the Bolsheviks.
(c) He convinces the Bolsheviks that he has leprosy.
(d) He convinces them he has typhus and that is why they are traveling alone in a locked compartment.

12. What do Yuri and Nabokov invent?
(a) A weapon.
(b) A way to distract siblings.
(c) A tool to make household chores easier.
(d) A game.

13. What tutor looks like the French actor Max Linder?
(a) A Greek spelling teacher.
(b) A polish medical student.
(c) A graduate student.
(d) A Russian literature tutor.

14. What types of tutors does Nabokov's father seem to intentionally choose?
(a) Those with experience working with aristocrat's children.
(b) Those who attend college at Cambridge.
(c) Tutors with a background in Russian literature.
(d) Tutors with widely varying backgrounds and subjects of expertise.

15. Why does Nabokov have secret spots?
(a) He and his brother play in the secret spots.
(b) He and Tamara find the secret spots.
(c) He finds them while writing poetry.
(d) He has found them in pursuit of butterflies.

Short Answer Questions

1. The boredom of the audience at these poetry performances is obvious to everyone but whom?

2. While he is writing a poem, to what is he prone?

3. Why does Sergey end up in a concentration camp?

4. Why does the relationship fizzle out?

5. Why is the relationship between Kirill, the younger brother, and Nabokov more like that of distant friends?

(see the answer keys)

This section contains 636 words (approx. 3 pages at 300 words per page) View a FREE sample