Véra Nabokov
editor, translator (1902–1991)
Véra Nabokov (née Slonim; Russian: Вера Евсеевна Набокова, romanized: Vera Yevseyevna Nabokova; 5 January 1902 – 7 April 1991) was a Russian literary editor, translator, and typist. She was married to the Russian writer Vladimir Nabokov and was instrumental to his career as a creative partner and a source of inspiration for many of his works.
Early life and immigration
Born Vera Yevseyevna Slonim in Saint Petersburg into a Jewish family, the second of three daughters born to Slava Borisovna (née Feigin) and Yevsey Lazarevich Slonim. Yevsey was a lawyer, and successful in the tile and timber businesses, among others. With the turmoil of World War I and the Russian Revolution, the family moved to Moscow, and after fleeing through Kiev, Odessa, Istanbul, and Sofia, arrived in Berlin, where they joined the large Russian émigré population.
Marriage to Nabokov
In Berlin, Yevsey Slonim co-founded a publishing firm, Orbis, and Véra worked in the office. Vladimir Nabokov, who was considering translating Dostoevsky into English, met Véra's father at the office and they played chess. Véra admired Vladimir's poetry, which was well known through émigré publications, and went to his readings.
The details of the first meeting between Véra and Vladimir are uncertain; he maintained it was at a charity ball on 8 (or 9) May 1923, but she denied this story. Sometime after that date, the two had a long conversation overlooking a canal, at which Véra wore a mask and recited Vladimir's poetry.
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This entry incorporates text from “Véra Nabokov” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.