signs and symbols
...ly moved to England, where Nabokov attended Trinity College at Cambridge from 1919-1922. He began his studies in zoology but later focused on Russian and French literature. Nabokov and Slonim met in May of 1923 and later married in 1925 in Berlin. Nabokov's son, Dmitri, was born in May of 1934. Dmitri went on to become a singer but also helped his father translate early work to English. Fleeing from the threat of Nazi forces, the Nabokovs moved to New York in 1940 and remained there for twenty years. While living in America, Nabokov established himself as a writer and continued to pursue his passion for the study of butterflies. After moving to Switzerland in 1960, he published acclaimed works such as "Pale Fire" and "Ada or Ardor" before his death in 1977. This story turned out to have less to do with pupae than patterns, the kind discerned by a mental patient and the aging Russian emigre parents who attempt to visit him on his birthday. The son beset by a world where trees, bodies of water and objects in general are secretly plotting his doom has attempted suicide; the parents are told to come back later. Late that night, they resolve to bring their boy home. They are having tea when the phone rings, Wrong number. It rings again; same caller. It rings again. End of story. For me an artist who knows that the illusion will not work without attention to exacting details. It's this very sense of detail of the working parts behind the surface of the world that lets Nabokov reign over hi...