Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov (
Russian ???????? ???????????? ???????,
pronounced&_160;[vl?d?i'm??r n?bo'k?f]; 22 April
[O.S. 10 April] 1899,
c Saint Petersburg – 2 July 1977,
Montreux) was a
multilingual Russian novelist and
short story writer. Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Russian, then rose to international prominence as a master English prose stylist. He also made contributions to
entomology and had an interest in
chess problems.
Nabokov's Lolita (1955) is frequently cited as amongst his most important novels, and is his most widely known, exhibiting the love of intricate word play and descriptive detail that characterized all his works. The novel was ranked at _4 in the list of the Modern Library 100 Best Novels by the Modern Library.[2] His memoir entitled Speak, Memory was listed _8 on the Modern Library nonfiction list.[3]
Nabokov was born on 22 April 1899 (10 April 1899 Old-Style).b
The eldest of five children of liberal lawyer, politician and journalist Vladimir Dmitrievich Nabokov and his wife, née Elena Ivanovna Rukavishnikova, he was born to a wealthy and prominent family of the untitled nobility of Saint Petersburg. He spent his childhood and youth there and at the country estate Vyra near Siverskaya, south of the city.
