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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. How do the aristocrats confront the ocean waves?
(a) By diving in.
(b) By swimming in groups.
(c) With the help of professional bathers.
(d) On a boat.

2. At the time the family moves, where are Nabokov and his brother?
(a) In Oxford.
(b) In New York University.
(c) In the University of Paris.
(d) In Cambridge.

3. Why is he detained briefly in 1918, by a Bolshevik soldier?
(a) He is evading the draft.
(b) He is accused him of signaling British warships with his net.
(c) He has run away from the Red Army.
(d) He is trying to escape the country.

4. Where does Nabokov's family live until his father's death in 1922?
(a) In Berlin.
(b) In Hamburg.
(c) In Paris.
(d) In Brussels.

5. What is memorable about this first memory?
(a) He realizes he has the ability to control his own body.
(b) He understands that everyone must eat.
(c) He understands that he is a separate being from his father and mother.
(d) He wonders where his parents are.

Short Answer Questions

1. What is young Vladimir's main concern?

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

3. What do the first-class carriages feature?

4. During one such trip in the summer of 1909, who does young Nabokov meet?

5. What does this hobby do to him?

Short Essay Questions

1. Who is Kirill?

2. Vladimir and his brother, Sergey, go through a series of nurses and governesses. Describe some of his memories of these women.

3. Why does Nabokov have trouble sleeping?

4. How is Nabokov's experience at Cambridge?

5. Nabokov's uncle, Vasiliy Ivanovich, is a diplomat and a dreamer, who occupies one of the estates near St. Petersburg when not abroad. What story does Nabokov recall about his uncle?

6. What does Nabokov experience in Crimea?

7. Where do they head to from Paris? What do they do when they get there?

8. What is Nabokov's favorite Captain Mayne Reid novel? Why?

9. Describe Nabokov's brother, Sergey.

10. What is known about the chapters prior to the writing of this book?

(see the answer keys)

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