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This quiz consists of 5 multiple choice and 5 short answer questions through Chapter 3.

Multiple Choice Questions

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

2. To what does Nabokov compare existence?
(a) A cradle rocking on the edge of an abyss.
(b) The seconds on a clock.
(c) A rollercoaster ride.
(d) The sands in an hourglass.

3. What does Nabokov call the process of using both the English and Russian translations of "Speak, Memory" to shape the current work?
(a) Reediting.
(b) Re-Englishing.
(c) Redoing.
(d) Rewriting.

4. What properties do the Nabokovs own until the Russian revolution?
(a) Several large estates south of St. Petersburg.
(b) Several summer cottages on the Baltic Sea.
(c) A large estate in St. Petersburg.
(d) A large estate in Moscow.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. What is the process by which Vladimir Nabokov writes "Speak, Memory?"

2. At the time the family moves, where are Nabokov and his brother?

3. Where does Nabokov's mother trick Dimitri into believing he is still?

4. The rest of the chapters are published separately, mainly by whom?

5. Why is the family forced to leave Russia?

(see the answer key)

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