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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. What does Nabokov claim stems more from an ecological longing for the place of his birth, than in his family's loss of property and station?
(a) His anger toward the British.
(b) His anger toward the Bolsheviks.
(c) His anger toward the Germans.
(d) His anger toward the French.

2. In exile in America, when a ranger or marshal spots him traipsing into the backwoods, net in hand, what is he asked?
(a) If he has a fishing license.
(b) What he is doing in the woods.
(c) What the net is for.
(d) Where his guide is.

3. To what is Nabokov's mother quite sensitive?
(a) Insults.
(b) Insect bites.
(c) Perfume.
(d) Seemingly small events.

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

5. After his retirement, from what does Dimitri Nabokov begin to suffer?
(a) Arthritis.
(b) Emphysema.
(c) Dementia.
(d) Heart disease.

Short Answer Questions

1. Of what descent is Nabokov's mother?

2. What does the rain cause to grow on the estate?

3. Soon, the string of nurses transforms into what?

4. What mystifies the two boys about Mademoiselle?

5. Though many doubt this ailment, What happens to Ivanovich?

Short Essay Questions

1. What is wrong about the books that young Vladimir finds in the attic?

2. What is the process Nabokov goes through to create a poem?

3. What schooling does Nabokov's father receive?

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

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

6. Nabokov is surprised to learn of what happens to several of his art teachers in the future. Why?

7. The aristocratic Nabokov house is stocked with English and French amenities. What are some of the amenities?

8. What is a difficulty that Russian writers endure?

9. What does young Vladimir think about when he wakes in the morning?

10. What evidence does the chapter give of Nabokov's bourgeois, aristocratic life?

(see the answer keys)

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