Vladimir Nabokov

Vladimir Nabokov was born into an aristocratic Russian family in 1899 and fled the Bolshevik Revolution in 1919, settling in Europe and later the United States. He initially wrote novels in Russian under the pseudonym V. Sirin, gaining acclaim for works like The Defense and The Gift. After emigrating to America, he transitioned to English, producing his most famous novel, Lolita (1955), a controversial yet linguistically dazzling exploration of obsession. His later masterpiece, Pale Fire (1962), is a metafictional novel structured as a poem and commentary. Nabokov also taught literature at Cornell and was a renowned lepidopterist. His legacy endures as a virtuoso of style, narrative innovation, and the interplay of memory and exile.