Summary

In Chapter 10 Nabokov enters his teenage years. He spends a lot of time with his cousin Yuri who does not share Nabokov’s preciousness or his wealth. Yuri is described as light hearted, fun and easy going. He falls in love with an older married woman and seduces her, he charms and talks with the servants in the house and Nabokov watches, detached from the experiences. He likes Yuri but does not wish to be like him.

He first learns about love and sex through his discussions with Yuri. Yuri tells him about his love for the older woman but the only thing that Nabokov can compare it to are the feelings that he felt at 10 for Colette, the French girl he played with on the beach at Biarritz. And then one summer he and his brother travel to a different town to have...