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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. To what simple rule does Nabokov's mother ascribe?
(a) Be honest and things will go your way.
(b) Love with all your soul and leave the rest to fate.
(c) Follow the Golden Rule.
(d) Love your neighbors as yourself.

2. Why is he detained briefly in 1918, by a Bolshevik soldier?
(a) He is trying to escape the country.
(b) He is evading the draft.
(c) He has run away from the Red Army.
(d) He is accused him of signaling British warships with his net.

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

4. 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 stories told to him by family members.
(c) The autobiographical novel is culled from essays written by the author's son.
(d) The autobiographical novel is culled from essays on his life.

5. How many years does Mademoiselle spend with the family?
(a) Seven.
(b) Seventeen.
(c) Two
(d) Five.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the first memory Nabokov drags from the darkness?

2. Mademoiselle threatens several times to leave. Why does she end up staying?

3. What is their mother's reaction when she sees that her children have opened the presents from their stockings early and poorly rewrapped them?

4. How do the aristocrats confront the ocean waves?

5. Who accompanies Vladimir and his companion on the beach?

Short Essay Questions

1. When does Nabokov begin to write poetry?

2. How is Nabokov's experience at Cambridge?

3. Where do they head to from Paris? What do they do when they get there?

4. What happens to Dimitri Nabokov after his retirement?

5. Describe Nabokov's mother.

6. What happens to the family once they leave Russia?

7. What does young Vladimir think about when he wakes in the morning?

8. Explain the process used to create this book.

9. Describe Nabokov's encounters with his cousin, Yuri.

10. The local schoolmaster is brought in to give the children a crash course in the Russian language. What takes place at a meeting between the father, son, and schoolmaster?

(see the answer keys)

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