A Brief Chronology:

Vladimir Nabokov's early career

1899

Born on 22 April in St. Petersburg to Vladimir Dmitrievich and Elena Ivanovna Rukavishnikov Nabokov.

1903

Birth of what Nabokov calls his “sentient life.”

approx. 1905

Begins life-long study of nature (especially lepidoptera), chess, and literature.

1914

Composes his first poem. “A miserable concoction,” he says, “containing many borrowings besides its pseudo-Pushkinian modulation.”

1917

His family goes to the Crimea.

1919

The Nabokovs flee Russia; Vladimir and Sergei begin studies at Cambridge.

1922

Nabokov's father is killed by tsarists.

1923

Graduates with honors from Cambridge and publishes two volumes of poetry, A Cluster and The Empyrean Path. Settles in Berlin.

1925

Marriage to Véra Evseevna Slonim.

1926

Mary (trans. 1970)

1928

King, Queen, Knave (trans. 1968)

1929

The Defense (trans. 1964)

1930

The Eye (trans. 1965)

1931

Glory (trans. 1971)

1932

Camera Obscura (trans. as Laughter in the Dark, 1938)

1934

Despair (trans. 1966)

1935

Invitation to a Beheading (trans. 1959)

1937

The Gift (Not published complete in Russian till 1952, trans. 1963)

1940

Nabokov, wife, and son emigrate to U.S.

1941

Publication of Sebastian Knight

 

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