I knew he was an uprooted aristocrat, a refugee, and a serious amateur lepidopterist. But nothing prepared me for the shocking revelations about the home life of one of my favorite writers.
From Jason Edward Harrington's review of Andrea Pitzer's meticulously researched biography, The Secret Life of Vladimir Nabokov:
Many of the biographical points in this book were new to me, such as the fact that it was Vera Nabokov's multilingual abilities and talents as a technical writer that supported Vladimir and their son Dmitri for many years, while Vladimir played the role of stay-at-home dad.That thunk you heard was my jaw hitting the table.
And already, this new information's changed the way I misread the title of Nabokov's first play, The Tragedy of Mister Morn.
Read Harrington's complete review of Pitzer's book in The Rumpus [therumpus.net]
Buy The Secret History of Vladimir Nabokov at Amazon for around $20 hardcover [amazon]
