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Steve's Speak, Memory Page

Random House/Vintage / Amazon.com

     This page contains notes I made during a recently completed (albeit frequently interrupted) reading of Vladimir Nabokov's autobiography Speak, Memory. I made these notes while reading to make it easier to "catch back up" if I had to set the book down for extended periods of time, which as it turns out was invariably.
     As Nabokov clarified in his Foreword to the 1966 revised edition, each chapter had already appeared as a magazine article. Article titles, dates, and the publications in which they appeared are noted under each chapter number.

1
"Perfect Past"
The New Yorker
April 15, 1950
  1. Time • Parent's ages • Dad's uniform
  2. Sofa tunnel • Bed sheets • Sleeper car
  3. Abbazia rocks • Two Japanese officers • Gen. Kuropatkin
  4. Don't Write Russian • Zhernosekov • Dad in jail
  5. Dad, blanket-tossed by grateful peasants
2
"Portrait of My Mother"
The New Yorker
April 9, 1949
  1. Hallucinations • colored hearing (synesthesia)
  2. Childhood illnesses • four foot pencil visualization • Mom's spirituality
  3. Tennis • Cards • Mushrooms
  4. Servant staff • Peeked at stockings • Dogs
3
"Portrait of My Uncle"
The New Yorker
January 3, 1948
  1. Nabokov and Von Korff genealogy • Grandfather • Uncle Konstantin
  2. Three estates on Oredezh • Rïleev/Pushkin duel • Batovo • Rozhestveno
  3. Scientific papers • Rukavishnikov • Stuffed bears • uncles
  4. Ruka's angina, death
  5. Aside: My loss is geographic, not financial, got it?
  6. Didn't care about wealth at 18
  7. Assorted memory: Butterfly • Villa • Sophie Children's books
4
"My English Education"
The New Yorker
March 27, 1948
  1. Home life • Grammar book characters
  2. Russian dusk • Childhood stories
  3. Dawdling up to bed
  4. Nurses, governesses, and Mr. Burness
  5. Drawing • Painting • Mr. Cummings • Mr. Dobuzhinski
5
"Mademoiselle O"
Mesures 1936, and
The Atlantic Monthly
January 1943
  1. Mademoiselle and her sleigh ride
  2. Drawing room • Colored pencils
  3. Great Dane - Escape to the woods!
  4. Mademoiselle's hands & tutoring rituals
  5. Mademoiselle reads to us • Mademoiselle's room • Insomnia • St. Petersburg mornings
  6. Mademoiselle's insecurities • Lenski v. Mademoiselle
  7. Reunion with Mademoiselle • Mme. Conrad
6
"Butterflies"
The New Yorker
June 12, 1948
  1. Morning light • Long distance moth
  2. Butterfly books
  3. The demon habit • Ones that got away • No one understands
  4. More missed opportunities
  5. Not discovered by me! • Dusk discoveries
  6. Park entropy • Bog visit • This is ecstasy
7
"Colette"
The New Yorker
July 31, 1948
  1. Train travel • Overnight to Paris
  2. Biarritz beach
  3. Colette
8
"Lantern Slides"
The New Yorker
February 11, 1950
  1. Tutors • Grandmother sells Batovo
  2. More tutors: Ordo • Max • Mr. Lenski
  3. Lenski's boring slide shows
  4. Lenski fails Econ. • The Insane Volgan • Lenski's numerous ventures
  5. All tutors at the garden table
9
"My Russian Education"
The New Yorker
September 18, 1948
  1. Father's bio
  2. Tenishev school • Fencing and boxing in the library
  3. The drive to school
  4. We were resented
  5. No duel
10
"Curtain-Raiser"
The New Yorker
January 1, 1949
  1. Cousin Yuri • Lothario • Swing game • Dead at 21
  2. Headless horseman • Well-travelled lorgnette • Adolescent fantasy
  3. Braces • Roller rink • Odd discomfort
  4. Dealing with romantic agitation • Polenka
  5. Polenka in the river • Train station
  6. Summer evenings • Young ladies • Sunset
11
"First Poem"
Partisan Review
September 1949
  1. Pavilion, inspires first verse • Drip
  2. Verse composition, interrupted
  3. Verse form impels content, unfortunately
  4. Imagery for first poem
  5. First poem, recital for mother
12
"Tamara"
The New Yorker
December 10, 1949
  1. Tamara's name keeps popping up • Meeting her in the woods
  2. Seeking privacy in museums, theaters • Published love poems: ouch! • Separate ways • Chance encounter
  3. Lenin ascends • Train to the Crimea (dropped cane)
  4. Pangs of exile in the Crimea • Tsiganov brings money and mail • Germans • White army • Games with Lidia • Letters from Tamara
  5. Tamara's evocative letters • Escape from the Crimea
13
"Lodgings In Trinity Lane"
Harper's
January 1951
  1. Greece • London • Father shown the fleet • Family to Berlin, me to Trinity
  2. Kirill • Sergey
  3. Cambridge
  4. Russian lit • Ignorant mates • Goalkeeping • Indifference and inspriation at Cambridge
  5. Falling petal • Revisit after 17 years
14
"Exile"
Partisan Review
January-February 1951
  1. Indignities of the displaced • Execution hobbyist
  2. Expatriate Russian writers • Awkward lunch with Bunin • Sirin (naturellement)
  3. Chess problems • One extremely difficult chess problem (try it here)

15
"Gardens and Parks"
The New Yorker
June 17, 1950

  1. Reflections on the depth of love for wife & child • Origins of human consciousness
  2. Infant rearing • Freud • Physics
  3. Certain European parks

8AUG06
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