the ideal nabokov biographer and critic

DNF. I've spent years trying to get through this book a bit at a time and finally realized it stopped being interesting like 200 pages ago when Nabokov's father died. This book is for Nabokov scholars and fanboys only. Life is too short for the rest of us to bother with this book.

Being one of the West Coast's most fervent non-academic Nabokov nuts, I knew I had to get around to the two-volume Boyd biography eventually. I set aside a good two weeks for it, but it ended up only taking a few days. Lord, this is engrossing stuff. I've always been a big reader of literary biographies, and this is up there w/the greats (Ellmann's Joyce, Troyat's Dostoevsky, etc.). An absolute must for Nabo fanatics. An excellent companion piece is Stacy Schiff's VERA (which delves deeper into the dirt than the notoriously insular Nabokov's would have liked, but never does so in a tawdry, tabloid fashion).

Thorough and extremely informative. Even if one doesn't want to wade through all the bio details, the analysis of VN's work is great.

About halfway through, Boyd republishes an essay on Nabokov's art. This chapter should be required reading for any student who wants to understand the depth of VN's prose. Apparently, he puts it here so that the reader may keep these thoughts in mind as Boyd critiques his novels from this point on.

Boyd is not an objective observer. He unapologetically praises VN at every turn, so the reader should perhaps consult other sources for criticism.

4.5 stars.

After finally finishing this 600 page biography, I am too eager to start the second part (another 700 pages) to write a good review. That's how captivating this was.

Errr... I think I started this book in 1992. I can't guarantee that I've finished it quite yet...

Brian Boyd has written the definitive biography of Vladimir Nabokov, the greatest author of the 20th century. This is the first volume of two and it covers Nabokov's youth in Russia, the Berlin years, and in the late 1930s, the move to France - until the moment they board the ship to the United States. The strong point of the book is, that it is much more than a biography: it also contains detailed and perceptive commentaries on all Nabokov's writings, leading to an enhanced understanding and enjoyment for the reader. Indispensable for Nabokov fans.