How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Section.Paragraph)
Quote #7
Our relationship was marked by that habitual exchange of homespun nonsense, comically garbled words, proposed imitations of supposed intonations, and all those private jokes which are the secret code of happy families. (9.5.7)
This reminds us of that Leo Tolstoy quote from Anna Karenina: 'All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.' What do you think Nabokov would have to say about this?
Quote #8
My mother reclined on the sofa with the St. Petersburg Rech in her hands and an unopened London Times in her lap. A white telephone gleamed on the glass-topped table near her. Late as it was, she still kept expecting my father to call from St. Petersburg where he was being detained by the tension of approaching war. (10.5.3)
Vladimir's on his way to show off his first poem to his ma, but big things are afoot behind the scenes. Nabokov makes the most of his latter day perspective to give us context and empathy...even if it's at his own character's expense. Even if it's not quite fair, it can feel easy to judge Vladimir's lack of awareness when it comes to his father's questionable safety and his mother's preoccupation. His parents, however, are invested in keeping him worry-free, and his mother is able to offer all of the encouragement the little poet needs.
Quote #9
Except for the two or three poor little adventures I have sketched in earlier chapters, his boyhood and mine seldom mingled. He is a mere shadow in the background of my richest and most detailed recollections. I was the coddled one; he, the witness of coddling. (13.2.4)
Nabokov cops to having trouble writing about his brother Sergey. The two couldn't be more different, he says. But is it more than that? We think it has something to do with Sergey's sad fate—death in a Nazi concentration camp—and the fact that the two never even said goodbye.