The Secret History of Vladimir Nabokov

Journalist Pitzer (founder, Nieman Storyboard) tackles the life and work of Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977) from a critical and refreshing viewpoint different from previous biographies. She aims to connect the turbulent events in the author's life to the events in his fiction. A writer known for his appreciation of aesthetics over historically and politically themed plotlines, Nabokov lived through the Russian Revolution and the Holocaust (his brother Sergey died in a concentration camp). Pitzer shows how Nabokov's work relates these events in a way hidden from the reader. Drawing on the novels of Alexander Solzhenitsyn, she compares the authors' lives and literary styles to illustrate the differences in how their fiction represents history; for example, Humbert's background in Lolita reflects such events as the Armenian genocide and the German concentration camps. Also, the speculation that he is Jewish perhaps represents the figure of the Wandering Jew.