Books, Arts & Manners: Russian Icons

Lectures on Russian LiteratureBy Vladimir Nabokov

Harcourt Brace, 331 pp., $19.95 Imagine a teacher of Russian novels who was born into an aristocratic famly under Czarist rule, whose grandfather imprisoned Dostoyevsky, who had met Tolstoy, knew Bunin; who was educated at Cambridge, spent his youngmanhood in France and Germany, had perfect English, was a master stylist in both his native and his adopted language; who was witty, urbane, sophisticated, exotic; who spoke with great authority (and considerable bias) on literary craftsmanship. This was Vladimir Nabokov, who taught fortunate students at Wellesley and Cornell from 1941 to 1958, until the abundant royalties from Lolita translated him to a luxurious pleasure dome in Switzerland.

About the Author

Jeffrey Meyers

Mr. Meyers is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and the author of John Huston: Courage and Art.

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Lectures on Russian LiteratureBy Vladimir Nabokov

Harcourt Brace, 331 pp., $19.95 Imagine a teacher of Russian novels who was born into an aristocratic famly under Czarist rule, whose grandfather imprisoned Dostoyevsky, who had met Tolstoy, knew Bunin; who was educated at Cambridge, spent his youngmanhood in France and Germany, had perfect English, was a master stylist in both his native and his adopted language; who was witty, urbane, sophisticated, exotic; who spoke with great authority (and considerable bias) on literary craftsmanship. This was Vladimir Nabokov, who taught fortunate students at Wellesley and Cornell from 1941 to 1958, until the abundant royalties from Lolita translated him to a luxurious pleasure dome in Switzerland.