Reviews for Vera (Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov)

by Stacy Schiff

Publishers Weekly
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

V?ra Nabokov was not only devoted to her husband's literary career; she was crucial to it. Schiff (Saint-Exup?ry) contends that Nabokov's public image was V?ra's doing: "we are used to husbands silencing wives, but here was a wife silencing, editing, speaking for, creating, her husband." For almost all their married lives, the Nabokovs were inseparable. Russian ?migr?s in Germany, France and then the U.S., they eked out a bare existence despite Nabokov's reputation as a stellar Russian novelist. With no market for his writing, he needed his wife to work as a translator so they could survive. After hours she also edited and translated his writings, conducted his professional affairs and maintained their marriage. Only the runaway international success of Lolita when they were in their later 50s freed the couple from scraping together a living. (A film advance gave Nabokov 17 times his annual salary at Cornell, a post that had taken years to secure.) Suddenly flush, the Nabokovs, by choice, again became ?migr?s, wealthy residents of a Swiss luxury hotel. Schiff's best pages evoke the years of adversity, as when the Jewish V?ra, regal even in penury, perilously remained in Nazi Germany until May 1937 (after non-Jewish Vladimir exited) because it was the only country where either one could legally work. Often described as "hovering" over her husband by his Cornell colleagues, V?ra was always close byÄeven working as his teaching assistantÄbecause, according to Schiff, he simply could not function without her. This book offers more than a peek at the famous author through his wife's eyes. When her 1991 New York Times obit called V?ra "Wife, Muse, and Agent" it only hinted at her role, which is rescued from obscurity in Schiff's graceful prose. 16 pages of b&w photos. (Apr.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved


Kirkus
Copyright © Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

The fascinating story of a modern woman who made a life-long career as her husband's intellectual companion, secretary, manager, and guardian angel. When in 1925 exiled Jewish Saint-Petersburger VÇra Slonim (1902—91) married Vladimir Nabokov, a brilliant Russian aristocrat and promising writer, she entered into a covenant with art itself. Through 52 years of marriage and for 14 years after her spouse's demise, she saw the sole meaning of her life as nourishing Nabokov and safeguarding his works and image for posterity. During the lean Berlin years, VÇra provided the lion's share of the family's income through her work as a translator. Her dedication helped her to weather Vladimir's tumultuous 1937 affair with Irina Guadanini. While Nabokov masqueraded as a literature professor at Wellesley and Cornell, his wife conducted research for his lectures, which she typed and occasionally even delivered in his stead. After the success of Lolita catapulted her husband to celebrity in the 1950s, Mrs. Nabokov served as his unique liaison with publishers, lawyers, and the media. VÇra indulged Nabokov's every whim, treating him as a protective mother would a child prodigy, carrying books after him across the Cornell campus, committing to memory every word he uttered, and chaperoning him on butterfly hunts. Schiff skillfully presents VÇra Nabokov as a living paradox. To some, she was uptight, self-righteous, and snooty, to others, charming and friendly. She forbade her son to read Mark Twain for moral reasons, but unhesitatingly endorsed Lolita. Purposefully skirting the limelight, she was at her husband's side at all interviews and receptions. Throughout two decades spent in the United States, VÇra never stopped ridiculing American provincialism and lack of taste. After the Nabokovs settled in Switzerland, however, she became an ardent advocate of the country she had so eagerly deserted, even justifying the Vietnam War. Schiff's entertaining biography powerfully argues that in effacing herself for her husband's aggrandizement, VÇra Nabokov entered history arm in arm with one of the century's greatest men of letters. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.


Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Vladimir Nabokov's works have come to the attention of the public again with the publication of Library of America editions and the recent film version of Lolita. Several years ago, Brian Boyd produced a two-volume definitive biography: Vladimir Nabokov: The Russian Years (LJ 10/1/90) and Vladimir Nabokov: The American Years (LJ 8/91). Schiff's book distinguishes itself by focusing on the relationship between Vladimir and his wife V?ra, a marriage that lasted some 50 years. Schiff (Saint Exup?ry, LJ 10/1/94) traces the years in France and Germany before World War II, followed by a hurried immigration to the United States and Nabokov's eventual literary success. Schiff also handles the difficulties within the marriage, including affairs. Through it all, the couple forged a close alliance as V?ra oversaw the editing of manuscripts, translation, the negotiation of contracts, and much of Vladimir's correspondence. The result is a scholarly, readable look at a remarkable literary duo.ÄRonald Ray Ratliff, Chapman H.S. Lib., KS (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.


Book list
From Booklist, Copyright © American Library Association. Used with permission.

Vera's first encounter with her husband-to-be--a young, handsome, up-and-coming poet--prefigured the intensity of their artistically fruitful marriage. It was spring in Berlin in 1923 when the two Russian emigres rendezvoused on a bridge and Vera entranced Vladimir by wearing a black satin mask and reciting his poems. Even after she became his muse, soulmate, champion, translator, business manager, and bodyguard (she was a crack shot and carried a pistol in her purse), Vera remained concealed behind her alabaster beauty, unfailing discretion, and strict decorum, devoting herself utterly to her husband and his dazzling creations. Schiff, a gifted biographer whose first book was an insightful portrait of Antoine de Saint-Exupery, not only draws this fascinating and accomplished woman out from behind her cherished mask and celebrated husband, she illuminates the profoundly collaborative process by which Vladimir wrote his scintillatingly original and provocative works. Every page he composed passed through Vera's keen mind and tirelessly typing fingers. She was his first and foremost reader, his shrewdest editor, and the inspiration for his unique aesthetics, erudite wit, and deep sophistication. Schiff tracks their often precarious lives in increasingly dangerous Berlin, then in the wide-open U.S., focusing most energetically on Vera's extraordinary involvement in Vladimir's academic and literary careers. It was Vera who bullied publishers on Vladimir's behalf; Vera who negotiated contracts, oversaw translations, drove the car, and kept her hero free from all the nagging details of everyday life. She was the moon to his sun, and his dedication "To Vera" in every book quietly marks the immensity and magic of their passion. --Donna Seaman


Library Journal
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Of all the symbiotic relationships writers have had with their spouses, none surpasses that of Nabokov and his remarkable wife, Vera. So says another woman of substance, biographer Schiff, whose impressive research is on par with the exquisite writing style with which she relates the details of the Nabokovs' lives. Her task was no doubt made harder by the Nabokovs' devotion to each other, where veracity often took a back seat to defending their loved one. Insights into the character of "V.N.," as Vera lovingly called her husband, are included, but center stage in this riveting portrait belongs to Vera, whose genius equaled her husband's but who tenaciously embraced what she saw as her role in life, to "help him." Beautiful, vibrant, and passionate, she disputed every attempt by others to elevate her station in the relationship or her importance to the work her husband produced. Anna Field's intelligent narration is necessary to convey the life of such a woman adequately. Highly recommended.-Mark Pumphrey, Polk Cty. P.L., Columbus, NC (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.