Vladimir Nabokov’s "Other Shores," a summary

This autobiographical book describes the first forty years of the writer’s life. It was published in Russian in 1954. The author translated and reworked his own English-language original. He sought perfect accuracy in recreating the lost past, seeking to reveal the hidden patterns of fate through the capricious play of memory. The text was written in English. The author then experienced the torment of returning to his native language, which required a different musical narrative mode.

Awakening Consciousness and Home Schooling

The protagonist’s awareness of his own existence comes to him in the summer of 1902 on the Vyra estate. The boy suddenly realizes the ages of his parents — his mother, Elena Ivanovna, and his father, Vladimir Dmitrievich. From this moment on, his sensual life begins. Early memories are full of vivid images. Cozy games under the sofa in the living room give way to morning tents of blankets. The boy passionately enjoys the color of a crystal Easter egg. The author possesses a rare gift of color hearing. Each letter of the alphabet is associated in his perception with a specific hue and texture.

His mother does everything she can to foster her son’s insatiable visual appetite. She paints him watercolors and shows him iridescent jewels. Elena Ivanovna is completely uninterested in housekeeping, leaving these chores to the old housekeeper and dishonest servants. His mother passionately loves mushroom picking in the Vyrsky park. She arranges boletus mushrooms on the iron table with genuine aesthetic pleasure. Elena Ivanovna believes in a higher spiritual harmony. She teaches her son to notice the details of the world around him: the flight of a lark, the colors of maple leaves, the cuneiform patterns of bird tracks in the snow.

The family history is replete with colorful personalities. Prominent among the family’s ancestors are the Russified German barons Korff, the Siberian gold miners Rukavishnikov, and the composer Karl-Heinrich Graun. The writer’s grandfather, Dmitry Nikolaevich, served as Minister of Justice under Alexander III. In old age, he lost his mind and wandered the Italian Riviera. A special place in his memory is occupied by his mother’s brother, diplomat Vasily Ivanovich Rukavishnikov. This connoisseur of music and cards left his nephew a fortune worth millions and the Rozhdestveno estate in 1916.

Everyday life in the St. Petersburg house on Bolshaya Morskaya Street is closely intertwined with English life. The children use soap from London. They eat golden syrup at the breakfast table and read British fairy tales. Education begins with foreign languages. Governesses take turns. The stern Scotsman Mr. Barnes forces the boy to write dictations. The kind artist Mr. Cummings teaches perspective and draws steam locomotives.

A particularly endearing character is the plump French governess. In the text, she appears as Mademoiselle. She wears pince-nez and has a remarkably clear, lilting voice. On summer days on the veranda, the Frenchwoman reads Victor Hugo’s novels aloud to the children. She constantly clashes with the other teachers. At the table, the governess sighs dramatically and says, "Sorry, I was smiling at my sad thoughts." The author later visits her in Switzerland. The aging woman lives among a group of former governesses yearning for distant Russia.

Russian mentors bring variety to the boy’s life. The village schoolteacher, Vasily Martynovich, ardently preaches leftist ideas. He delights his student with his calligraphic handwriting. The Polish student, Max, teaches his protégé how to shoot a revolver. At night, he secretly rides a bicycle to visit his married mistress. Student Lensky unsuccessfully tries to instill in the children a love of democratic literature. He stages disastrous magic lantern séances.

A passion for entomology and youthful loves

At the age of seven, the boy was consumed by an all-consuming love for entomology. Catching his first swallowtail on a Persian lilac forever sealed his passion. The child devoured the illustrated volumes in his father’s library. This passion required absolute solitude. The boy escaped from his peers and tutors. He spent hours wandering through the forests and swamps within a five- to six-kilometer radius of Vyra.

The pursuit of rare species brings incredible happiness. In the boggy mosses beyond the Oredezh River, the young entomologist finds arctic butterflies. His insect hunting continues in all weathers. On moonlit nights, he stalks hawk moths near lilac bushes. In the cold autumn, the boy lures moths onto tree trunks smeared with molasses and rum. People often react with hostility to the man with a net. This in no way dampens his delight at encountering nature’s mysteries. Later, in America, he will encounter rare species in mountain meadows at altitudes over four thousand meters.

The family often travels around Europe on luxury international express trains. In 1909, in Biarritz, a ten-year-old boy meets a French girl, Colette. They play together on the beach and catch crabs. The children secretly watch bullfighting films in a dark cinema. The boy falls passionately in love. He even plans an elopement together. The story ends with Colette’s departure for Paris. They see each other for the last time in an autumn park. The girl with the hoop disappears behind the trees.

True youthful love blossoms in the summer of 1915 in her native Vyra. Fifteen-year-old Tamara has a graceful figure, black, cheerful eyes, and a soft down on her dark cheeks. The teenagers meet secretly in an old park. During the winter, the romance continues in cold St. Petersburg. Deprived of the privacy of home, the lovers wander the snowy streets. They hide in empty museum halls and in the back rows of cinemas. The tension of their St. Petersburg dates causes a rift in their relationship.

In the summer of 1917, they meet for the last time in the vestibule of a suburban train. Against the backdrop of burning peat bogs and a smoky sunset, Tamara eats chocolate. She calmly talks about her work at the office. This love is inextricably fused in the author’s soul with a longing for her homeland. Later, the hero accidentally sees the peasant girl Polenka at Siverskaya station. The girl passes by and utters a melodious murmur: "But the young master didn’t recognize me." These scenes emphasize the irrevocable nature of a vanished Russia.

Social environment and the beginning of emigration

Vladimir Dmitrievich Nabokov was actively involved in politics. He was a leader of the Cadet Party. Party meetings were constantly held in the house, and heated political debates erupted. In 1911, the reactionary press published an offensive article. His father challenged the newspaper editor, Alexei Suvorin, to a duel. The boy experienced hours of panic and terror, vividly imagining the bloody duel. Soon, his opponent apologized, and the duel was called off.

The protagonist finds studying at the Tenishevsky School easy. The school administration is dissatisfied with his behavior. The teachers demand teamwork and participation in social clubs. The young man categorically refuses to join any group. He disdains political gatherings of his peers. His individualism openly irritates the teachers, who accuse him of arrogance and arrogant attitude.

The Bolshevik Revolution forced the family to leave St. Petersburg. In Crimea, they lived under the constant threat of execution by successive governments. In April 1919, the family left their homeland forever on a small Greek ship. That fall, the young man entered Cambridge University. His studies in England were marked by excruciating melancholy. The student shivered in a cold room, wrote Russian poetry by the light of the fireplace, and defended the university football team’s goal.

English intellectuals like the student Bomston justify the Red Terror. They blindly idealize Soviet power. The hero furiously demonstrates to them the criminal nature of Bolshevism. He constantly runs into a wall of ignorance. Literature and composing chess problems become his salvation. Chess composition requires incredible mental effort. The author spends hours over the board, constructing cunning traps for would-be solvers, finding perfect harmony in this art.

Life in Europe and departure

In European exile, Russian refugees lead a shadowy existence, dependent entirely on police orders. His years in Berlin are filled with poverty, tennis lessons, and translations of commercial texts. He gradually matures as a writer. He publishes his first works in the newspaper "Rul" (Rul) under the patronage of an old family friend, Hessen. He associates little with the literary elite. He fondly recalls his meetings with Ivan Bunin and Vladislav Khodasevich.

In the spring of 1934, a son is born in Berlin. His parents shield him from the impending horror of European dictatorship. They give him all their care and love. The boy rides a pedal car through the streets of the capital. He plays in the sandboxes of Paris. A child collects colorful shards of majolica on the beaches of the Riviera. In May 1940, the family reaches the port of Saint-Nazaire. Behind the clotheslines and harbor buildings, the enormous smokestacks of a steamship appear. The Champlain is ready to take the exiles to America. With this painting, the narrative ends.