Vladimir Nabokov Novelist
- Gender: Male
- Citizenship: United States
- Born: Apr 22, 1899
- Died: Jul 2, 1977
Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov was a Russian-American novelist. Nabokov's first nine novels were in Russian. He then rose to international prominence as a writer of English prose. He also made serious contributions as a lepidopterist and chess composer.
Nabokov's Lolita is his most famous novel, and often considered his finest work in English. It exhibits the love of intricate word play and synesthetic detail that characterised all his works. The novel was ranked fourth in the list of the Modern Library 100 Best Novels; Pale Fire was ranked at 53rd on the same list, and his memoir, Speak, Memory, was listed eighth on the Modern Library nonfiction list. He was a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction seven times, but never won it.
A writer should have the precision of a poet and the imagination of a scientist.
imagination
Life is a great sunrise. I do not see why death should not be an even greater one.
death & life
Genius is an African who dreams up snow.
dreams
I confess, I do not believe in time.
time
A novelist is, like all mortals, more fully at home on the surface of the present than in the ooze of the past.
home
A work of art has no importance whatever to society. It is only important to the individual.
art, society & work
Poetry involves the mysteries of the irrational perceived through rational words.
poetry
My loathings are simple: stupidity, oppression, crime, cruelty, soft music.
music
To play safe, I prefer to accept only one type of power: the power of art over trash, the triumph of magic over the brute.
art & power