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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. To what does the memory of the bracelet lead?

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

3. What is the process by which Vladimir Nabokov writes "Speak, Memory?"

4. When do they arrive in Paris?

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

Short Essay Questions

1. What is a difficulty that Russian writers endure?

2. What evidence from the text shows that Nabokov is beginning to have an interest in girls?

3. Who is Tamara?

4. How does young Nabokov react to rumor that his father has challenged someone to a duel?

5. What jobs does Nabokov's father hold throughout his career?

6. How does Nabokov's autobiography begin?

7. What happens to Dimitri Nabokov after his retirement?

8. Describe Nabokov's brother, Sergey.

9. What happens after the revolution to Nabokov's family?

10. What does the Russian revolution do to most of Russia's writers and artists?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

The second chapter focuses on Nabokov's mother.

Part 1) Describe Nabokov's mother.

Part 2) Compare Nabokov and his mother.

Part 3) What is Nabokov's relationship like with his mother?

Essay Topic 2

Nabokov seems to have a close relationship with his father.

Part 1) Describe their relationship.

Part 2) Compare and contrast Nabokov's relationship with his father and his relationship with his mother.

Part 3) What are possible reasons for the differences in the two relationships?

Essay Topic 3

Nabokov lives a bourgeois, aristocratic life.

Part 1) What evidence from the text suggests this?

Part 2) When and why does this lifestyle end?

Part 3) How does Nabokov handle this change in lifestyle?

(see the answer keys)

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