1. Why does Nabokov's father force the family to leave a sidewalk cafe?
(a) The father notices two Japanese officers dining at a nearby table.
(b) His father sees an old acquaintance he would rather avoid.
(c) The wait staff is slow and untrained.
(d) The food is not edible.

2. Of what descent is Nabokov's mother?
(a) Aristocratic English descent.
(b) Aristocratic Swedish descent.
(c) Aristocratic Norwegian descent.
(d) Aristocratic German descent.

3. To what simple rule does Nabokov's mother ascribe?
(a) Love with all your soul and leave the rest to fate.
(b) Be honest and things will go your way.
(c) Love your neighbors as yourself.
(d) Follow the Golden Rule.

4. What is the first memory Nabokov drags from the darkness?
(a) Holding hands with his mother and father, as the three of them walk along a garden path in 1903,
(b) Playing in the yard on the estate.
(c) Being fed by his nanny.
(d) Going on a picnic with his mother and father.

5. The rest of the chapters are published separately, mainly by whom?
(a) The New Yorker.
(b) The St. Petersburg Publishing House.
(c) The Chicago Tribune.
(d) The New York Times.

Short Answer Questions

1. It is unusual for aristocrats in Russian to be hanged, and as a child, what does Nabokov call the trail through the woods on the estate where a previous owner had been hanged?

2. What does Nabokov call the process of using both the English and Russian translations of "Speak, Memory" to shape the current work?

3. Why does Vasiliy insist upon lying supine on the floor?

4. After his retirement, from what does Dimitri Nabokov begin to suffer?

5. To what is Nabokov's mother quite sensitive?

(see the answer key)

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