Description
Product Description
[Audio Cassette Library Edition in vinyl case]
[Read by Anna Fields]
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize
Hailed by critics as both '
...
'monumental'' (
Boston Globe) and ''utterly romantic'' (
New York magazine), Stacy Schiff's
Vera, the story of Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov, brings to shimmering life one of the greatest literary love stories of our time. Vladimir Nabokov -- the emigre' author of
Lolita, Pale Fire, and
Speak, Memory -- wrote his books first for himself, second for his wife.
Set in prewar Europe and postwar America, spanning much of the twentieth century, the story of the Nabokov's fifty-two-year marriage reads as vividly as a novel. Vera, both beautiful and brilliant, is its outsized heroine -- a woman who loves as deeply and intelligently as did the great romantic heroines of Austen and Tolstoy. Stacy Schiff's
Vera is a triumph of the biographical form.
From Library Journal
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
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
''An absorbing story, illumined by Schiff's flair for the succinct insight.'' --
New York Times Book Review
''[A] riveting portrait . . . Anna Fields' intelligent narration is necessary to convey the life of such a woman adequately. Highly recommended.'' --
Library Journal
''This is a subtle and canny biography of a very smart but prickly woman. Vera . . . managed to so intertwine herself in [Vladimir's] personal, intellectual, and literary endeavors that it becomes difficult, or impossible, to separate her from him.'' --
AudioFile
''A sensitive rendering of one of the century's great love stories.'' --
Mirabella
''Schiff here cements her reputation as a literary biographer of striking subtlety and perceptiveness . . . Schiff's elegant prose and eye for nuance nearly match Nabokov himself in this lucid, unsentimental portrait of a marriage.'' --Amazon.com Review
''This book offers more than a peek at the famous author through his wife's eyes. When her 1991
New York Times obit called Vera -- ''Wife, Muse, and Agent'' -- it only hinted at her role, which is rescued from obscurity in Schiff's graceful prose.'' --
Publishers Weekly
''The fascinating story of a modern woman who made a life-long career as her husband's intellectual companion, secretary, manager, and guardian angel . . . Schiff's entertaining biography powerfully argues that in effacing herself for her husband's aggrandizement, Vera Nabokov entered history arm in arm with one of the century's greatest men of letters.'' --
Kirkus Reviews
About the Author
STACY SCHIFF's
Saint Exupery: A Biography was a finalist for the 1995 Pulitzer Prize. Her work has appeared in the
New Yorker, the
New York Times Book Review, the
Washington Post, and the
Times Literary Supplement. She lives with her family in New York City and Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
From AudioFile
This is a subtle and canny biography of a very smart but prickly woman.
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