The first of a two-volume biography of Vladimir Nabokov, one of the great writers of the 20th century, this book draws on diaries, letters, manuscripts and archival research in the former Soviet Union, Europe and North America. It is also based on interviews with Nabokov's family, friends, colleagues, students and others, including an ex-fiancee, babysitters and concierges. Evoking the colour of Nabokov's life and world - opulent pre-revolutionary St Petersburg, a Russian poet's Cambridge, impoverished-emigre Berlin and France - the author also offers a critical overview of his subject's thought and art, and introductions to individual works.