Vladimir Nabokov:american Years

Here, at last, is the definitive life of one of the twentieth century's greatest writers. The first volume of Brain Boyd's critical biography of Vladimir Nabokov, THE RUSSIAN YEARS, received praise from critics & won a large & enthusiastic popular audience. In this second & concluding volume, Boyd continues the story of Nabokov's life from the novelist's arrival in the United States in 1940, nearly destitute & without a job. Nabokov was greatly relieved to find a home in America after years of wandering. But supporting himself & his family in the United States was not easy until the astonishing success of LOLITA catapulted him to world fame & financial security. This volume also reveals, for the first time, the story of Nabokov's other careers--as teacher, critic, translator, scholar, & scientist--& shows how they enriched his life & his art. For the last two decades of his life, he withdrew to a sheltered existence in a Swiss hotel. These were for the most part triumphant years, but Nabokov lived them behind a forbidding public mask--a mask that hid, as Boyd vividly demonstrates, a warmer, more vulnerable person than we have previously imagined. THE RUSSIAN YEARS was heralded by the NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW as "...a definitive life of the man & a superbly documented chronicle of his time." THE AMERICAN YEARS provides a fitting conclusion to this larger-than-life story.Boyd, Brian is the author of 'Vladimir Nabokov:american Years' with ISBN 9780691067971 and ISBN 069106797X.