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Monday, 16.07.2007
Nabokov Museum
A grey-haired man brandishing a net in hot pursuit of butterflies – this is probably the most popular picture of Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov. But of course Nabokov’s main pursuit was not zoology, but writing. The author of the famous and infamous ‘Lolita’ came from St. Petersburg, and the house where he was born and grew up now contains a museum dedicated to him.
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The first thing to strike you on entering the museum is that the Nabokov family must have had a weakness for panelled ceilings and walls.
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Bolshaya Morskaya 47
Nearest metro: SadovayaSennaya Pl.
Opening hours: Monday to Thursday 11-6, Fridays 11-5, Saturdays and Sundays 12-17
Guided tours in English can be arranged at least a day in advance.
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Be sure to glance up at the carved ceiling! Vladimir Nabokov, born in 1899, and his family emigrated to Western Europe after the October Revolution – the revolutionary workers and sailors had little affection for such people who lived among aristocrats and carved woodwork.
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Nabokov was homesick for St. Petersburg for the rest of his life - although perhaps his marriage to Vera Slonin in 1925, who was also from St. Petersburg, helped somewhat.
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Vladimir Nabokov lived and worked in Germany from 1922 to 1937. In his autobiographical work ‘Speak Memory!”, the house in St. Petersburg plays a key role as the lost paradise of his youth.
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A further shift in power and politics – the rise of the Nazis – caused him to flee to Paris, and then in 1940, to the USA. That was the start of his second creative period, writing in English. His scandalous novel ‘Lolita’, which was immediately labelled pornographic and prohibited in the USA, was published in 1956.
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The exhibition rooms contain objects connected with Nabokov’s writing, and also documentary films and interviews. The museum excels especially in capturing the lifestyle of a highly educated and wealthy family in pre-revolutionary Petersburg. The atmosphere is authentic and the museum employees are forthcoming in providing additional information.
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