Letters to Véra
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4.0 • 3 Ratings
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- $16.99
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
No marriage of a major twentieth-century writer is quite as beguiling as that of Vladimir Nabokov’s to Véra Slonim. She shared his delight at the enchantment of life’s trifles and literature’s treasures, and he rated her as having the best and quickest sense of humor of any woman he had met. From their first encounter in 1923, Vladimir’s letters to Véra chronicle a half-century-long love story, one that is playful, romantic, and memorable.
At the same time, the letters reveal much about their author. We see the infectious fascination with which Vladimir observed everything—animals, people, speech, landscapes and cityscapes—and glimpse his ceaseless work on his poems, plays, stories, novels, memoirs, screenplays, and translations. This delightful volume is enhanced by twenty-one photographs, as well as facsimiles of the letters and the puzzles and drawings Vladimir often sent to Véra.
With 8 pages of photographs and 47 illustrations in text
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
It's hard to imagine Vladimir Nabokov spending enough time away from his wife, Vera, to write even a single letter to her, much less a massive collection of them. However, in this authoritative and charming new volume, we learn that early in their marriage, the famed author of Lolita wrote to his wife frequently while traveling. Most of the letters were written between 1923 and 1944, a period that found Vladimir often living in places such as Paris, Brussels, and Prague, while his wife and young son stayed in Berlin or traveled elsewhere. Vera, editor Boyd tell us, did not respond in kind nearly as often (and most of the letters she did write were destroyed), but Vladimir's attachment to his wife, as revealed here, is simply astounding. The letters include drawings for their son, Dmitri; riddles for Vera; and endearments like "my kitty" and "my darling." It's clear that his world revolved around her. In the very first letter, Vladimir writes "I need you, my fairy-tale... you are the only person I can talk with about the shade of a cloud, about the song of a thought." These letters form a touching record of a famous literary marriage and further attest to the great novelist's sheer devotion and erudition.
