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Vladimir Nabokov's Speak, Memory: Bookmarked
“Birkerts reads Nabokov even as he allows Nabokov to read him. This is reading as high art, exhilarating and wise.”—CHRISTOPHER BENFEY,author, Red Brick, Black Mountain, White Clay
“Much more than an exercise in literary criticism, this short book increasingly reads as a profound, sensitive, insightful meditation on family, history, time, language, the nature of artistic inspiration, and, in the end, even the meaning of life.”—OLGA GRUSHIN, author, TheDream Life of Sukhanov and Forty Rooms
“Like Nabokov’s, Birkerts’ book is both a nuanced excursion into the nature of memory and a reminder that reading and writing are acts of noticing. This is a supremely alert book about a supremely alert book.”—JOAN WICKERSHAM, author, The Suicide Index
Vladimir Nabokov’s Speak, Memory is one of the most critically acclaimed memoirs of the twentieth century. In this classic account of his life, Nabokov writes about his idyllic Russian childhood in an aristocratic family, the Bolshevik revolution that led to his exile from Russia, and the path that would eventually lead him to live in America.
In the latest volume in Ig’s Bookmarked series, celebrated author and critic Sven Birkerts writes about how Speak, Memory not only intersects with various central life-concerns (exile, serendipity and coincidence, childhood, literary redemption), but is also vital to understanding the workings of memory in literature.
“Much more than an exercise in literary criticism, this short book increasingly reads as a profound, sensitive, insightful meditation on family, history, time, language, the nature of artistic inspiration, and, in the end, even the meaning of life.”—OLGA GRUSHIN, author, TheDream Life of Sukhanov and Forty Rooms
“Like Nabokov’s, Birkerts’ book is both a nuanced excursion into the nature of memory and a reminder that reading and writing are acts of noticing. This is a supremely alert book about a supremely alert book.”—JOAN WICKERSHAM, author, The Suicide Index
Vladimir Nabokov’s Speak, Memory is one of the most critically acclaimed memoirs of the twentieth century. In this classic account of his life, Nabokov writes about his idyllic Russian childhood in an aristocratic family, the Bolshevik revolution that led to his exile from Russia, and the path that would eventually lead him to live in America.
In the latest volume in Ig’s Bookmarked series, celebrated author and critic Sven Birkerts writes about how Speak, Memory not only intersects with various central life-concerns (exile, serendipity and coincidence, childhood, literary redemption), but is also vital to understanding the workings of memory in literature.
- GenresNonfictionCriticism
155 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 26, 2021
7 people are currently reading
15 people want to read
About the author
Sven Birkerts
58 books81 followersSven Birkerts is an American essayist and literary critic of Latvian ancestry. He is best known for his book The Gutenberg Elegies, which posits a decline in reading due to the overwhelming advances of the Internet and other technologies of the "electronic culture."
Birkerts graduated from Cranbrook School and then from the University of Michigan in 1973. He has taught writing at Harvard University, Emerson College, Amherst College, and most recently at Mount Holyoke College. Birkerts is the Director of the Bennington College Writing Seminars and the editor of AGNI, the literary journal. He now lives in the Boston area, specifically Arlington, Massachusetts, with his wife Lynn, daughter Mara, and son Liam.
His father is noted architect Gunnar Birkerts.
Birkerts graduated from Cranbrook School and then from the University of Michigan in 1973. He has taught writing at Harvard University, Emerson College, Amherst College, and most recently at Mount Holyoke College. Birkerts is the Director of the Bennington College Writing Seminars and the editor of AGNI, the literary journal. He now lives in the Boston area, specifically Arlington, Massachusetts, with his wife Lynn, daughter Mara, and son Liam.
His father is noted architect Gunnar Birkerts.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 9, 2021
Some of the ideas brought up in this book, some of you already know but quickly dismiss as unbelievable and only concepts. Birkerts articulates your thoughts with cortically stimulating, clarifying language.
January 23, 2022
An excellent read
What a pleasure to rediscover Nabokov’s “Speak, Memory” through Birkert’s musings presented in the most beautiful language. Highly recommend book. Will make you want to go back to Nabokov again.
What a pleasure to rediscover Nabokov’s “Speak, Memory” through Birkert’s musings presented in the most beautiful language. Highly recommend book. Will make you want to go back to Nabokov again.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews