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This test consists of 15 multiple choice questions and 5 short answer questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Why do they hire the village schoolmaster, though he is not technically one of the family's regular tutors?
(a) To give them French lessons.
(b) To give them mathematics lessons.
(c) To give them writing lessons.
(d) To give them a crash course in the Russian language.

2. How many children do the Nabokovs eventually have?
(a) Six.
(b) Four.
(c) Two.
(d) Five.

3. What does Nabokov confess about Yuri and himself?
(a) The devastation of war is new to them.
(b) They wish they had girlfriends.
(c) The "slums of sex" were unknown to both of them.
(d) They know nothing about America.

4. How would Nabokov spend hours?
(a) Playing lawn tennis.
(b) Chasing butterflies.
(c) With a chess board in front of him.
(d) Writing poetry.

5. What is the response to Nabokov's published book of poems?
(a) Critics want to see another book published.
(b) Huge praise.
(c) No response.
(d) Critics are not kind.

6. What does young Nabokov's status as a child of the intelligentsia often do to him?
(a) It isolates him from his fellow students
(b) He receives many compliments.
(c) It makes him stand out in a crowd.
(d) It encourages him to make friends.

7. What does the headstrong Yuri in later life introduce to Nabokov?
(a) The French language.
(b) The Wild West fiction of Captain Mayne Reid.
(c) Poetry.
(d) Butterflies.

8. What is a crippling experience for him?
(a) Writing poetry in Russian.
(b) Contracting polio.
(c) Falling off a horse.
(d) Speaking English.

9. What is Vladimir elected to, which the Tsar dissolves?
(a) Russian Congress.
(b) First Russian Parliament.
(c) First Russian Senate.
(d) Russian House of Burgesses.

10. Who dies young of a heart ailment?
(a) A Ukrainian mathematician.
(b) A Polish tutor.
(c) The schoolmaster.
(d) A Greek spelling tutor.

11. What intrigues the young Nabokov about the novel?
(a) The description of nature and the American frontier.
(b) Its deliberate action and concern for honor.
(c) Its love of America and the wilderness.
(d) Its mystery and murder.

12. Who finds himself surrounded by social elites whose view of the Revolution is, at least at first, far more positive than his own?
(a) Dmitri.
(b) Yuri.
(c) Nabokov.
(d) Sergey.

13. What do Yuri and Nabokov invent?
(a) A tool to make household chores easier.
(b) A weapon.
(c) A game.
(d) A way to distract siblings.

14. What fills Nabokov with surprise, while roller-skating?
(a) He is not very good.
(b) Colette is also roller-skating.
(c) His mother skates very well.
(d) An older American girl comments on his excellent skating.

15. What is one thing he recalls suddenly becoming aware of while creating a poem?
(a) He's standing in the rain.
(b) His mother is removing a plate of untouched food from in front of him.
(c) He has forgotten part of the poem.
(d) His father is speaking to him.

Short Answer Questions

1. Why is the relationship between Kirill, the younger brother, and Nabokov more like that of distant friends?

2. How does Nabokov's father die?

3. What does Nabokov remember about his father's remarkable writing ability?

4. Why does Sergey end up in a concentration camp?

5. What does he do with a poem before he writes it down?

(see the answer keys)

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