The Struggles and Triumphs of Vladimir Nabokov
Great success often is the result of great struggle and hard work. Vladimir Nabokov, a Russian American, faced struggles during the Russian Revolution and the difficulties of being an immigrant in America. The year 1919 marked the first of many migrations Nabokov would take to escape the hostile European atmosphere. Eventually, Nabokov came to New York, spreading his influence as a writer from Europe to the United States. The experiences and lifestyle of Nabokov developed him into an interesting character and a talented author as well, making a name for him as a "literary giant of his generation". His family life greatly impacted his perspective in life. Nabokov was the oldest of 4 younger siblings, …show more content…
Those poets, including an Irish poet, James Joyce, left an impression on him, impacting his writing. He also was a teacher at Cornell University from 1948 to 1959, where he criticized Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, and Charles Darwin in lectures (Davis np). A prominent part of Nabokov’s character was his interest in butterflies. He was an "...avid butterfly collector" (Magill np). He collected butterflies as a child, and while in America, Nabokov dedicated his summers to butterflies, discovering “several species and subspecies, including one that came to be called Nabokov’s wood nymph”. Nabokov got praise from the science community for his field research on the Lycaeides genus and remarked that “That’s real fame. That means more than anything a literary critic could say” (Davis np). Nabokov had talent regarding several different subjects, but his passion for writing was one that persisted from childhood to adulthood and from Europe to …show more content…
His novel, Lolita, made him $150,000 and was made into a film. Lolita is one of his most famous novels and led to him being recognized as an author that wrote in English. The novel "has been called everything from pornography to one of the greatest novels of the twentieth century". The controversy and popularity of Lolita provided Nabokov an escape from his job as a teacher. France and the United States had banned the novel, but it was still a best-seller (Davis np). Before Lolita, he had a reputation as an author in Europe. He made himself known in Russia as a writer from the era of Russian emigration within 1925 and 1940 through a series of works that ranged from novels to poetry (Kellman np)."Nabokov was recognized as a noteworthy émigré novelist and poet in Berlin and Paris" (Davis np). The span of his influence as a writer had reached throughout the
Great success often is the result of great struggle and hard work. Vladimir Nabokov, a Russian American, faced struggles during the Russian Revolution and the difficulties of being an immigrant in America. The year 1919 marked the first of many migrations Nabokov would take to escape the hostile European atmosphere. Eventually, Nabokov came to New York, spreading his influence as a writer from Europe to the United States. The experiences and lifestyle of Nabokov developed him into an interesting character and a talented author as well, making a name for him as a "literary giant of his generation". His family life greatly impacted his perspective in life. Nabokov was the oldest of 4 younger siblings, …show more content…
Those poets, including an Irish poet, James Joyce, left an impression on him, impacting his writing. He also was a teacher at Cornell University from 1948 to 1959, where he criticized Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, and Charles Darwin in lectures (Davis np). A prominent part of Nabokov’s character was his interest in butterflies. He was an "...avid butterfly collector" (Magill np). He collected butterflies as a child, and while in America, Nabokov dedicated his summers to butterflies, discovering “several species and subspecies, including one that came to be called Nabokov’s wood nymph”. Nabokov got praise from the science community for his field research on the Lycaeides genus and remarked that “That’s real fame. That means more than anything a literary critic could say” (Davis np). Nabokov had talent regarding several different subjects, but his passion for writing was one that persisted from childhood to adulthood and from Europe to …show more content…
His novel, Lolita, made him $150,000 and was made into a film. Lolita is one of his most famous novels and led to him being recognized as an author that wrote in English. The novel "has been called everything from pornography to one of the greatest novels of the twentieth century". The controversy and popularity of Lolita provided Nabokov an escape from his job as a teacher. France and the United States had banned the novel, but it was still a best-seller (Davis np). Before Lolita, he had a reputation as an author in Europe. He made himself known in Russia as a writer from the era of Russian emigration within 1925 and 1940 through a series of works that ranged from novels to poetry (Kellman np)."Nabokov was recognized as a noteworthy émigré novelist and poet in Berlin and Paris" (Davis np). The span of his influence as a writer had reached throughout the