The Russian Years (v. 1) (Vladimir Nabokov) - Softcover

Boyd, Brian

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0099862204 ISBN 13: 9780099862208

Publisher: Vintage, 1993

Synopsis

The first of a two-volume biography of Vladimir Nabokov, one of the great writers of the 20th century, this book draws on diaries, letters, manuscripts and archival research in the former Soviet Union, Europe and North America. It is also based on interviews with Nabokov's family, friends, colleagues, students and others, including an ex-fiancee, babysitters and concierges. Evoking the colour of Nabokov's life and world - opulent pre-revolutionary St Petersburg, a Russian poet's Cambridge, impoverished-emigre Berlin and France - the author also offers a critical overview of his subject's thought and art, and introductions to individual works.

About this title

Review:

Mr. Boyd has a remarkable gift for drawing life and literature together. . . .[What he does] in this impressive biography reveals to us a Nabokov who has been far too little known. . . . As a biography [Boyd's] book can hardly be surpassed. It is a definitive life of the man and a superbly documented chronicle of his time.--Sergei Davydov "The New York Times Book Review "

A terrific biography: intelligent, compulsively readable, indispensable. Brian Boyd brings to his work a passionate scholarship comparable to that in Nabokov's own encyclopedic edition of Pushkin's "Eugene Onegin." You just can't do better than that.--Michael Dirada "the Washington Post Book World "

Boyd has many qualities which mark him as Nabokov's natural biographer.--Jane Grayson "The Times Literary Supplement "

To the short list of outstanding literary biographies in our time there must now be added another remarkable achievement. . . . Brian Boyd had a great story to tell, and he has told it superbly.--Hilton Kramer "The Wall Street Journal "
Mr. Boyd has a remarkable gift for drawing life and literature together. . .
.[What he does] in this impressive biography reveals to us a Nabokov who has
been far too little known. . . . As a biography [Boyd's] book can hardly be
surpassed. It is a definitive life of the man and a superbly documented
chronicle of his time.
--Sergei Davydov "The New York Times Book Review "
A terrific biography: intelligent, compulsively readable, indispensable.
Brian Boyd brings to his work a passionate scholarship comparable to that in
Nabokov's own encyclopedic edition of Pushkin's "Eugene Onegin." You
just can't do better than that.
--Michael Dirada "the Washington Post Book World "
To the short list of outstanding literary biographies in our time there must
now be added another remarkable achievement. . . . Brian Boyd had a great
story to tell, and he has told it superbly.
--Hilton Kramer "The Wall Street Journal "
Boyd has many qualities which mark him as Nabokov's natural
biographer.
--Jane Grayson "The Times Literary Supplement "

One of "Choice"'s Outstanding Academic Titles for 1991
One of "Choice"'s Outstanding Academic Titles for 1991

About the Author:

Brian Boyd is Distinguished University Professor in the Department of English at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. He is the author of the prize-winning Vladimir Nabokov: The Russian Years (Princeton 1990), Vladimir Nabokov: The American Years (Princeton 1991), and Nabokov's Ada: The Place of Consciousness. Referred to in a recent journal as "the great man of Nabokov studies," he has also edited Nabokov's English novels and autobiography for the Library of America and Nabokov's Butterflies for Beacon Press.

About this edition

• Publisher: Vintage
• Publication date: 1993
• ISBN 10: 0099862204
• ISBN 13: 9780099862208
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 608