Véra (Mrs Vladimir Nabokov) (book)
Véra (Mrs Vladimir Nabokov) (Written by Stacy Schiff)/1999
This book is a biography of an enigmatic woman who dedicated
her life to literature. The amount
of research that went into this book is phenomenal; the author carefully weaved
together sources from articles, books, anecdotes, and official documents to
create a magnificent work that Véra would have approved. Despite multiple and often
contradictory materials, the book reads almost like fiction and not like a historical
book that can quite often be intensive.
You get a sense that each sentence would have been considered and pored
over just as the Nabokovs had done with their work.
There is a better-known book about the Nabokovs called “Letters to Véra”, which is about the couple’s love affair before they became famous. This book, by contrast, is not a love story but a story of a partnership dedicated to creation of quality literature that lasts for over 50 years across 3 continents and two major world events: the Russian Revolution and WWII.
I would highly recommend this book to not just fans of Nabokov but anyone interested in the writing process, because it talks a lot about the couples writing, editing and translating process as well as interaction with the media, publishers and film studios.
The book details how in the early years, the Nabokovs struggle to earn enough money to enable Vladimir to focus on writing. They worked multiple jobs, teetering on the edge of poverty and working on their creations in the evenings. What struck me as remarkable was the way they were so certain of their art and they always prioritised it at the expense of stability and comfort. The couple also translated many Russian novels and poetry. They worked to perfection even to their late years when the aging body posed difficulties in reading for long hours at a desk. They would not tolerate reading badly translated work or poetry as to them such work disfigures the beauty of the original: a truly grave sin. They couldn’t help but create a better representation.
Véra was Vladimir’s lover, muse, collaborator, secretary, agent, driver and generally the one who front footed and dealt with the world as Vladimir wrote. For some reason she completely shied away from any recognition and was even wary of a description as a collaborator, and very disturbed by any mention that it was her that wrote some of the work. But the couple’s identities were deeply intertwined: they wrote in each other’s hand writing and signed each other’s signatures.
From the time they first met until the day she dies, she maintained an iron mask of strength, elegance and beauty. She rarely expressed her irritation, sadness or worries – even to those that were closest to her. For this reason, I found it at times difficult to empathise with her. By contrast, Vladimir is a creator, dreamer, forever the optimist and romantic. Initially I was irritated by this relationship because it felt unfair, but after 300 pages, it becomes clear that they are essentially one person: “twin souls”, and they both loved the part each other plays in the relationship. It would be impossible to write a book about either one of them without talking about the other. The book is essentially a biography of two people living one life.
This book is a biography of an enigmatic woman who dedicated
her life to literature. The amount
of research that went into this book is phenomenal; the author carefully weaved
together sources from articles, books, anecdotes, and official documents to
create a magnificent work that Véra would have approved. Despite multiple and often
contradictory materials, the book reads almost like fiction and not like a historical
book that can quite often be intensive.
You get a sense that each sentence would have been considered and pored
over just as the Nabokovs had done with their work.There is a better-known book about the Nabokovs called “Letters to Véra”, which is about the couple’s love affair before they became famous. This book, by contrast, is not a love story but a story of a partnership dedicated to creation of quality literature that lasts for over 50 years across 3 continents and two major world events: the Russian Revolution and WWII.
I would highly recommend this book to not just fans of Nabokov but anyone interested in the writing process, because it talks a lot about the couples writing, editing and translating process as well as interaction with the media, publishers and film studios.
The book details how in the early years, the Nabokovs struggle to earn enough money to enable Vladimir to focus on writing. They worked multiple jobs, teetering on the edge of poverty and working on their creations in the evenings. What struck me as remarkable was the way they were so certain of their art and they always prioritised it at the expense of stability and comfort. The couple also translated many Russian novels and poetry. They worked to perfection even to their late years when the aging body posed difficulties in reading for long hours at a desk. They would not tolerate reading badly translated work or poetry as to them such work disfigures the beauty of the original: a truly grave sin. They couldn’t help but create a better representation.
Véra was Vladimir’s lover, muse, collaborator, secretary, agent, driver and generally the one who front footed and dealt with the world as Vladimir wrote. For some reason she completely shied away from any recognition and was even wary of a description as a collaborator, and very disturbed by any mention that it was her that wrote some of the work. But the couple’s identities were deeply intertwined: they wrote in each other’s hand writing and signed each other’s signatures.
From the time they first met until the day she dies, she maintained an iron mask of strength, elegance and beauty. She rarely expressed her irritation, sadness or worries – even to those that were closest to her. For this reason, I found it at times difficult to empathise with her. By contrast, Vladimir is a creator, dreamer, forever the optimist and romantic. Initially I was irritated by this relationship because it felt unfair, but after 300 pages, it becomes clear that they are essentially one person: “twin souls”, and they both loved the part each other plays in the relationship. It would be impossible to write a book about either one of them without talking about the other. The book is essentially a biography of two people living one life.
