Summary

In the previous chapter Nabokov lists his teachers and governesses, in the beginning of this chapter he admits that he uses the details of their persona as characters in his works of fiction, but what troubles him is that once he has written them into a story—into his fiction—his stronghold on actual events fades and what is real and what is fiction becomes nearly indiscernible. He notes that not only does he use people in his fiction, but details of place and even these memories fade and crumble and he forgets what is truth—as if writing the fiction rewrites his perception of truth, of what can be recollected by memory.

The end of this chapter focuses on one French governess that took care of him and his brother for seven years. He refers to her simply as Mademoiselle. He claims that...