American · 1899–1977
Vladimir Nabokov was a Russian-born writer who produced major novels in both Russian and English. Born into a wealthy St. Petersburg family, he left Russia after the 1917 revolution, studied at Cambridge, and lived in Berlin and Paris, publishing Russian novels under the name V. Sirin, including Mary, The Luzhin Defense, Invitation to a Beheading and The Gift. In 1940 he moved to the United States, where he taught literature at Wellesley and Cornell and wrote in English. His books include The Real Life of Sebastian Knight, Lolita, Pnin and Pale Fire. He also wrote short stories, the memoir Speak, Memory, translated Pushkin's Eugene Onegin with extensive commentary, and was a serious lepidopterist. Lolita made him famous and allowed him to leave teaching in 1959. He settled in Montreux, Switzerland, and died there in 1977. His work is known for exact prose, wordplay, intricate structure and an interest in memory, exile and obsession.