Structure

Speak, Memory is divided into fifteen chapters and each chapter has multiple numbered sections, like a list. The autobiography unfolds chronologically from Nabokov’s earliest memories until his early adulthood in 1939. Some chapters read like lists with tangential asides when Nabokov recounts an interesting or poignant memory.

Other chapters follow a more traditional story arc with a beginning, middle and end. All of the chapters are organized by time period and events and significant people that he recalls from that specific time of his life.

Perspective

Tone