Speak, Memory: An Autobiography Revisited | Style

Speak, Memory: An Autobiography Revisited Style

Character

Individual figures play important roles in Speak, Memory but not necessarily commensurate to the number of pages devoted to them or to the chronological span they spent with Nabokov. Individual family members, passing acquaintances, temporary lovers and love objects, tutors and governesses, occasional artists, all contribute to Nabokov's recreation of lost time and place.

Episode

Nabokov employs episodes and anecdotes to shed insight on individual figures, to make general observations, and to recapture lost time. Individual episodes, such as his first meeting on a beach at Biarritz with the little girl who grows up to use the pseudonym Colette and General Kuropatkin's card trick at his parents' Vyra estate, provide vivid images and recovery of lost time.

Image

Nabokov fills Speak, Memory with images of verdant pathways, glittering reflections, luminous butterflies, colorful book illustrations, and small intricate oddities such as patterns of match boxes and even a remembered replica of...
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