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

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Nabokov develops a fondness for what?
(a) Butterflies.
(b) Composing chess problems.
(c) Poetry.
(d) Lawn tennis.

2. When does his first poem take shape in his mind?
(a) While searching for butterflies.
(b) While sitting with his mother.
(c) During a theatrical performance.
(d) During a sudden thunderstorm.

3. To where do the boys win scholarships?
(a) College of William and Mary.
(b) University of Paris.
(c) Tufts University.
(d) Oxford.

4. Why is Nabokov's tutor rebuked by his mother?
(a) He spies on the young couple.
(b) He is being rude to her children.
(c) He is not doing an adequate job.
(d) He is repeatedly late.

5. While he is writing a poem, to what is he prone?
(a) To sing to himself.
(b) Long lapses of attention to the world around him.
(c) To bounce ideas off his mother.
(d) To wander aimlessly through the forest.

6. What is the subject of this chapter?
(a) Nabokov's tutor, Vladimir Dmitrievich Nabokov.
(b) Nabokov's uncle, Vladimir Dmitrievich Nabokov.
(c) Nabokov's father, Vladimir Dmitrievich Nabokov.
(d) Nabokov's brother, Vladimir Dmitrievich Nabokov.

7. After Cambridge, how is Nabokov's life?
(a) A life of financial destitution and intellectual opulence.
(b) A middle-class life.
(c) A life of financial success and artistic destitution.
(d) A similar life to that in Russia.

8. Why is the relationship between Kirill, the younger brother, and Nabokov more like that of distant friends?
(a) Due to the large gap in their ages.
(b) They have such different personalities.
(c) Due to Kirill being given up for adoption.
(d) They do not get along.

9. On what does the rest of the family live?
(a) On an estate in Germany.
(b) On the sale of a handful of family jewels.
(c) On government assistance.
(d) His father's retirement check.

10. Why does the relationship fizzle out?
(a) Tamara moves back to St. Petersburg and gets a job.
(b) Nabokov's father finds out.
(c) Tamara is tired of him.
(d) They no longer have anything in common.

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

12. What do both Vladimir's writings on technical matters as well as philosophical have in common?
(a) They have the same steadiness of thought.
(b) They are filled with mistakes.
(c) They are both boring.
(d) They are inspiring.

13. What happens to Yuri in northern Crimea?
(a) He converts to Catholicism.
(b) He is killed.
(c) He is married.
(d) He is captured.

14. Vladimir is raised by his own share of governesses and tutors but where does he go at the age of 13?
(a) The Gymnasium.
(b) Poly Preparatory.
(c) St. Petersburg Academy.
(d) Berkshire Boys Academy.

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

Short Answer Questions

1. Who does Nabokov meet at the age of sixteen?

2. What precaution does Nabokov's father take?

3. What does Vladimir study at St. Petersburg University?

4. Why does Nabokov feel exiled in Crimea, a Russian territory?

5. At what does Nabokov hint about Sergey?

(see the answer keys)

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