1899-1977. US writer who left his native
Russia 1917 and began writing in English in
the 1940s. His most widely known book is
Lolita 1955, the story of the middle-aged
Humbert Humbert's infatuation with a
precocious child of 12. His other books
include Laughter in the Dark 1938, The Real
Life of Sebastian Knight 1945, Pnin 1957, and
his memoirs Speak, Memory 1947. Born in St
Petersburg, Nabokov settled in the USA 1940,
and became a US citizen 1945. He was
professor of Russian literature at Cornell
University 1948-59, producing a translation
and commentary on Pushkin's Eugene Onegin
1963. He was also a lepidopterist (a
collector of butterflies and moths), a theme
used in his book Pale Fire 1962.