Vladimir Nabokov

Vladimir Nabokov (known primarily in English transcription, Russian Владимир Владимирович Набоков / Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov, cons. Transliteration Vladimir Vladimirovič Nabokov, pronunciation [vlɐˈdʲimʲɪr vlɐˈdʲimʲɪrəˌvit͡ʃ nɐˈbokəf]; * 10.^{jul. /} 22 April 1899greg. in Saint Petersburg; † 2 July 1977 in Montreux, Switzerland) was a Russian-American writer, literary scholar, and butterfly researcher. He ranks among the most influential storytellers of the 20th century.

Nabokov's life was marked by multiple exiles. In 1917, the Nabokov family fled to Germany before the October Revolution. His first poems and novels, published under the pseudonym W. Sirin, appeared in Berlin and found their readership mainly among exiled Russians living in Western Europe. After the Nazi takeover, Vladimir Nabokov emigrated to the United States via France with his Jewish wife Véra. He earned his living there by teaching at various universities.

Nabokov became known for his twelfth novel, Lolita, which was published in 1955 and became a bestseller. The sales successes allowed him to resign from his professorship at Cornell University and devote himself entirely to writing. The Nabokov couple returned to Europe in the early 1960s and initially led a nomadic hotel life without a fixed address before taking up permanent residence at the Hotel Palace in Montreux, Switzerland.

In addition to Lolita, Nabokov's best-known works include the novels Pnin, Pale Fire, and Ada or Desire.