# Event Details - **Event Name**: Vladimir Nabokov and Russian Literary Traditions - **Event Start and End Date**: Thu, 12 Mar, 2026 at 05:00 pm – Thu, 12 Mar, 2026 at 06:30 pm - **Event Description**: Join us for a talk exploring Vladimir Nabokov as a bilingual writer whose work is deeply rooted in the Russian literary tradition.About this EventIt would be hard to find a major Russian writer of the 20th century who was better versed in Russian literature than Vladimir Nabokov. In his Russian writing he responded to his numerous predecessors and contemporaries in many different ways, shaping his own literary pedigree, carefully selecting relatives and guarding against intruders. It is clear that Nabokov’s view of continuity within the context of classical tradition involved disputation, dialog, reinterpretation. He believed that a modern Russian writer should incessantly question and test the canon, debunk stale notions and develop potentialities that have been overlooked or untried. Otherwise the heritage of Russian classical writers gets ossified and they turn into “rag dolls for schoolgirls” like those meaningless toys on which Cincinnatus C. used to work. His strategy of re-examination, reshuffling, appropriation and rejection was made explicit in The Gift whose heroine, as he quipped in the English foreword, was not Zina, Fyodor’s lover and muse, but Russian Literature. With Nabokov’s switch to English and, correspondingly, to a different literary context, the role of the Russian literary tradition in his writings changed. As he put it in the sly essay “On a Book Entitled Lolita,” his English books, in contrast to the Russian ones, are devoid of “the implied associations and traditions—which the native illusionist, frac-tails flying, can magically use to transcend the heritage in his own way”. It means that the umbilical cord through which Nabokov’s Russian oeuvre had been connected to the classical heritage was severed and the tradition itself became an object of contemplation from afar (and often the butt of hollow mockery, like in the first sentence of Ada) rather than a battlefield of constant engagement. Yet even in his English novels that do not have any Russian protagonists and/or story lines (for example, in Lolita and Pale Fire) we can discern an important Russian substratum accessible only to the ideal bilingual reader.Speaker: Alexander Dolinin (Professor Emeritus, University of Wisconsin-Madison)Moderated by: Daria Khitrova (Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, Harvard University) - **Event URL**: https://allevents.in/cambridge/vladimir-nabokov-and-russian-literary-traditions/100001981601434233 - **Event Categories**: art, literary-art - **Interested Audience**: - total_interested_count: 0 ## Ticket Details - **Ticket Price Range**: min: 0, max: 0, currency: USD ## Event venue details - **city**: Cambridge - **state**: MA - **country**: United States - **location**: S250, CGIS South Building, 1730 Cambridge Street - **lat**: 42.3750154 - **long**: -71.11314759999999 - **full address**: S250, CGIS South Building, 1730 Cambridge Street, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, United States ## Event gallery - **Alt text**: Vladimir Nabokov and Russian Literary Traditions - **Image URL**: https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events1/banners/1f668addd2ae412f9ba003272a772300ce7b1fa942135f7879bf733302e630a3-rimg-w1200-h1029-dcbfc5be-gmir.png?v=1769923786 ## FAQs - **Q**: When and where is Vladimir Nabokov and Russian Literary Traditions being held? - **A:** Vladimir Nabokov and Russian Literary Traditions takes place on Thu, 12 Mar, 2026 at 05:00 pm to Thu, 12 Mar, 2026 at 06:30 pm at S250, CGIS South Building, 1730 Cambridge Street, 1730 Cambridge Street, Cambridge, United States. - **Q**: Who is organizing Vladimir Nabokov and Russian Literary Traditions? - **A:** Vladimir Nabokov and Russian Literary Traditions is organized by Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies. ## Structured Data (JSON-LD) ```json [ { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "Event", "name": "Vladimir Nabokov and Russian Literary Traditions", "image": "https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events1/banners/1f668addd2ae412f9ba003272a772300ce7b1fa942135f7879bf733302e630a3-rimg-w1200-h1029-dcbfc5be-gmir.png?v=1769923786", "startDate": "2026-03-12", "endDate": "2026-03-12", "url": "https://allevents.in/cambridge/vladimir-nabokov-and-russian-literary-traditions/100001981601434233", "location": { "@type": "Place", "name": "S250, CGIS South Building, 1730 Cambridge Street", "address": { "@type": "PostalAddress", "streetAddress": "1730 Cambridge Street", "postalCode": "02138", "addressLocality": "Cambridge", "addressRegion": "MA", "addressCountry": "US" }, "geo": { "@type": "GeoCoordinates", "latitude": "42.3750154", "longitude": "-71.11314759999999" } }, "eventAttendanceMode": "https://schema.org/OfflineEventAttendanceMode", "description": "Join us for a talk exploring Vladimir Nabokov as a bilingual writer whose work is deeply rooted in the Russian literary tradition.", "offers": [ { "@type": "AggregateOffer", "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock", "priceCurrency": "USD", "availabilityStarts": "2026-04-07", "availabilityEnds": "2026-03-12", "validFrom": "2026-04-07", "lowPrice": "0.00", "highPrice": "0.00", "price": "0.00", "url": "https://allevents.in/cambridge/vladimir-nabokov-and-russian-literary-traditions/100001981601434233" }, { "@type": "Offer", "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock", "priceCurrency": "USD", "availabilityStarts": "2026-04-07", "availabilityEnds": "", "validFrom": "2026-04-07", "url": "https://allevents.in/cambridge/vladimir-nabokov-and-russian-literary-traditions/100001981601434233", "price": 0, "name": "General Admission" } ], "organizer": [ { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies", "url": "https://allevents.in/org/davis-center-for-russian-and-eurasian-studies/22617878", "description": "The Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University brings people together to learn about this region in original and profound ways. By fostering opportunities for innovative scholarship, creative teaching, and broad learning within a research university, we educate future leaders who make enduring contributions and bring deep knowledge to bear on contemporary problems." } ] } ] ```