oskylad
Member
The book really tailed off for me during the last few chapters. What had been a slow saunter through an idyllic childhood began to be a jumpy journey through what may be thought of as a somewhat dissolute life.
Some would say Nabokov's childhood ended with the Bolshevik takeover of Russia and his family's flight to the Crimea and eventually emigration to western Europe. But it was not the loss of Russia that struck me as being the end of his childhood, but the loss of innocence and charm that preceded the flight.
The turning point for me was in Chapter 12-1, when Nabokov "took my adorable girl to all those secret spots in the woods, where I had daydreamed so ardently of meeting her, of creating her. In one particular pine grove, everything fell into place, I parted the fabric of fancy, I tasted reality.”
That loss of innocence was to be joined by his loss of charm in Chapter 12-2. After being with Tamara for a year, Nabokov “entered an extravagant phase of sentiment and sensuality, that was to last about ten years”. He saw himself as “a hundred different young men at once, all pursuing one changeful girl in a series of simultaneous or overlapping love affairs, some delightful, some sordid, that ranged from one-night adventures to protracted involvements and dissimulations, with very meager artistic results”.
Silverseason earlier commented regarding Chapter 3 that “as a teenager, Nabokov inherited the uncle's estate and the equivalent of a couple of million dollars. This wealth vaporized a year later in the Russian revolution. It is striking that Nabokov makes a great point that his loss is not the money, but his childhood.”
In Chapter 3-6, Nabokov himself recalls that “love affairs and verse writing occupied most of my leisure” and “during the brief year that I was in possession of that private wealth, I was too much absorbed by the usual delights of youth--youth that was rapidly losing its initial, non-usual fervor—either to derive any special pleasure from the legacy or to experience any annoyance when the Bolshevik Revolution abolished it overnight.”
Some would say Nabokov's childhood ended with the Bolshevik takeover of Russia and his family's flight to the Crimea and eventually emigration to western Europe. But it was not the loss of Russia that struck me as being the end of his childhood, but the loss of innocence and charm that preceded the flight.
The turning point for me was in Chapter 12-1, when Nabokov "took my adorable girl to all those secret spots in the woods, where I had daydreamed so ardently of meeting her, of creating her. In one particular pine grove, everything fell into place, I parted the fabric of fancy, I tasted reality.”
That loss of innocence was to be joined by his loss of charm in Chapter 12-2. After being with Tamara for a year, Nabokov “entered an extravagant phase of sentiment and sensuality, that was to last about ten years”. He saw himself as “a hundred different young men at once, all pursuing one changeful girl in a series of simultaneous or overlapping love affairs, some delightful, some sordid, that ranged from one-night adventures to protracted involvements and dissimulations, with very meager artistic results”.
Silverseason earlier commented regarding Chapter 3 that “as a teenager, Nabokov inherited the uncle's estate and the equivalent of a couple of million dollars. This wealth vaporized a year later in the Russian revolution. It is striking that Nabokov makes a great point that his loss is not the money, but his childhood.”
In Chapter 3-6, Nabokov himself recalls that “love affairs and verse writing occupied most of my leisure” and “during the brief year that I was in possession of that private wealth, I was too much absorbed by the usual delights of youth--youth that was rapidly losing its initial, non-usual fervor—either to derive any special pleasure from the legacy or to experience any annoyance when the Bolshevik Revolution abolished it overnight.”