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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. They board the Sud-Express and disembark in what town?
(a) Biarritz.
(b) Marseille.
(c) Brest.
(d) Nice.

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

3. Who is referred to simply as "Mademoiselle?"
(a) The tutor.
(b) His aunt.
(c) The governess.
(d) His sister.

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

5. 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?
(a) The "walk of the Hanged One."
(b) The "Hanging Rope."
(c) The "Path of the Hanged."
(d) The "Road to a Hanging."

Short Answer Questions

1. How does Mademoiselle provide Vladimir with an extra hour or two out of the darkness?

2. Why is Nabokov disappointed to hear that one of his tutors marries a peasant girl?

3. Where does Nabokov's family live until his father's death in 1922?

4. Each day, when he awakes, how can young Vladimir tell what kind of day it is?

5. What is their mother's reaction when she sees that her children have opened the presents from their stockings early and poorly rewrapped them?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does Nabokov describe the poet?

2. What is a difficulty that Russian writers endure?

3. The local schoolmaster is brought in to give the children a crash course in the Russian language. What takes place at a meeting between the father, son, and schoolmaster?

4. Who is Kirill?

5. When does Nabokov meet Colette? How do they spend their time together?

6. Who are the tutors hired to educate the Nabokov children?

7. How does Nabokov's autobiography begin?

8. What does he learn about himself, regarding Russian poets?

9. He also had several art instructors. Who are they and what does he learn from them?

10. Why might be the reason for the Nabokov's leaving Europe?

(see the answer keys)

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