By Shakeeb Arzoo
Most of the places are referenced from Brian Boyd's magnificent 2-vol biography of Nabokov (VNRY and VNAY). For cross-checking, refer to Chronology and Dieter E. Zimmer's Nabokov's Whereabouts. Thanks to Brian Boyd and Gerard de Vries for their valuable input and crucial comments. Please suggest further emendations!
Abano Terme, a town in the Veneto region, Italy: The Nabokovs’ seek rest at Hotel Due Torri during Christmas 1964, while Vera undergoes the “fango” treatment to relieve her wrist-pains. (VNAY 488-89)
Abbazia, (now Opatija), Croatia: VN visits home of aunt Natalia de Peterson with his family, 1905 (VNRY 51-52, corrected VNRG 70-73)
Adelboden, a village in the canton of Bern, Switzerland: The Nabokovs’ would spend the first three weeks of August 1969, in the mountains of Bernese Oberland. Boyd reports Nabokov noting in his diary about this stay as, “Horribly cold, damp, dreadful,” and “Never again!” (VNAY 571)
Afton, a town in Lincoln County, Wyoming, USA: The Nabokovs’ last stop in August, 1952 before returning to Ithaca the following month. They would stop at the Corral Log Cabins, which Nabokov will find altogether pleasing and nerve-calming. He would put in the finishing touches to his translation of The Song of Igor’s Campaign. (VNAY 219) They would briefly return to Afton in the July of 1956. (VNAY 297)
Amalfi, a city in the region of Campania, Italy: The Nabokovs’ would stay at Albergo Cappucino Convento, between sea and crags for nearly two weeks during the May of 1966. (VNAY 512)
Amélie-les-Bains-Palalda, a commune in the Pyrénées-Orientales department, France: In the April of 1972, the Nabokovs’ would return to a small resort in Pyrénées-Orientales, very near to a site they had visited in 1929. Three weeks of moderate weather would allow him to capture some remarkable specimens. (VNAY 602)
Cap d'Antibes, a Mediterranean resort in Alpes-Maritimes department, southeast France: The Nabokovs’ would go there in the August of 1938, where they stay at Villa Les Cyprès. Nabokov would write the play The Waltz Invention there, which is to be performed by the Russian theatre in Paris, in 1939. (VNRY 488-89)
Antwerp, Belgium: Nabokov would go there for highly successful public readings of his work in 1932, 1936. It was a part of his reading network Paris-Brussels-Antwerp. (VNRY 397, 422)
Ashland, a city in Jackson County, Oregon, USA: Vladimir and Vera would arrive here in June 1953, viz. the California Lakes. One of the reasons was to be close to Dmitri while another that they had never explored the Pacific Northwest. They would rent a home at 163 Mead Street, Ashland and stay there till September of the year. Boyd reports VN would walk eighteen miles a day in and around Ashland. He would write the poem “Lines written in Oregon” and an initial version of the “Ballad of Longwood Glen”. An impetus for what would eventually grow into Pnin would begin. (VNAY 225)
Atlanta, a city in Fulton County, Georgia, USA: Nabokov would lecture at Spelman College (for black women) in Fall 1942. He develops a lasting friendship with its president, Florence Read. Nabokov would enjoy her company during his stay discussing everything from the Negro problem to telepathy. (VNAY 50)
Aurora, a village in Ledyard, Cayuga County, New York, USA: Nabokov would lecture at Wells College in 1941. It was his first lecture at an American college, where his cousin Nicolas Nabokov has been teaching for more than 15 years. (VNAY 25)
Batovo, Russia: The other “linked ring in a ten-mile chain” (or as Dieter Zimmer has it more accurately: “an elongated triangle with Vyra in the north and Batovo and Rozdestveno as a southern base”), the estate of Batovo was the childhood home of V. D. Nabokov as well as his mother’s (VN’s grandmother, von Korff) residence. Though it “was much less opulent than Vyra or the showy Rozhdestveno, it could boast a more distinguished past. It was here young Vladimir would meet his numerous aunts, uncles, and cousins, before returning by calash, charabanc, or automobile across the Pont des Vaches” (VNRY 46). Currently, all that remains of the Batovo estate is the linden alley, which is shown to visitors (see here). See also entries for Vyra and Rozhdestveno.
Belva, an unincorporated community in Nicholas County and north Fayette County, West Virginia, USA: Nabokov and co. would stop at Maple Shade Cottages in May 1941. (VNAY 28)
Berlin, Germany: V.D. Nabokov and his family initially move to Berlin-Schmargendorf from London in 1920. Nabokov joins (during a leave from Cambridge) his parents in 1921. (VNRY 176) The Nabokovs’ will later move to less expensive lodgings in Berlin-Wilmersdorf. In the same year VN meets his future fiancé Svetlana Siewart in Lichterfelde (a locality in Berlin). (VNRY 183) In the May of 1923, Nabokov would meet Vera Slonim at a charity ball in Berlin-Halensee, Kurfürstendamm (a famous avenue in Berlin). They get married in the April of 1925 at a townhall in Berlin-Wilmersdorf, staying temporarily at Vera’s address, Luitpoldstrasse 13 in Berlin-Schöneberg. (VNRY 239-40) They would change their addresses several times, their most durable address will be with Anna Feigin in Nestorstrasse 22 in Berlin-Wilmersdorf. Dmitri Nabokov will be born in 1934 at a private clinic. (VNRY 407) Nabokov will finally leave Germany in the January of 1937 (during a reading tour) and would avoid returning there even for the issue of passports. Vera, Dmitri and Anna Feigin would give up their Nestorstrasse apartment in the April of the same year. They would finally leave Germany the following month. (VNRY 431, 437)
Berlin-Tegel Russian Orthodox Cemetery, in Tegel locality of Reinickendorf disctrict: V.D. Nabokov is buried there after his brutal assassination while protecting a friend in March 28, 1922. (VNRY 193)
Beaulieu-sur-Mer, a seaside village on the Côte d’Azur, between Nice and Monaco: In the summer of 1904, the Nabokov family would go to Beaulieu staying at Hotel Bristol, where the five-year old Nabokov would fall in love with a Rumanian girl with the surname Ghika. (VNRY 51)
Biarritz, near Bay of Biscay in France: The Nabokov family’s holiday home. They stay there either at a rented apartment or at a rented villa in the years 1901, 1907, 1909. The "Colette" episode of Speak, Memory occurs in Biarritz, 1909. (VNRY 73, 78, 97)
Big Bend National Park, Texas, USA: The Nabokovs’ would stop for four days at the Big Bend during the summer of 1959. Boyd mentions the place as “a magnificent semitropical place, the newest (and wildest) of our national parks,” and where they were warned that (butterfly) collecting could be complicated by over-playful mountain lions and ubiquitous rattlesnakes. (VNAY 382)
Big Pine, a census-designated place in Inyo County, California, USA: Nabokov would take a ten-day break (July 1960) from his work on the screenplay of Lolita for butterfly hunting in the High Sierras. (VNAY 408)
Binz, on the Baltic coast (Rügen Island): V&V act as chaperones for the two children of the Bromberg family (cousins of the Feigins’) at a seaside resort in the summers of 1926 and 1927. (VNRY 262, 274)
Bologna, a city in the region of Emilia-Romagna, Italy: The Nabokovs’ next stop on their Italian tour of 1966. Their inspection of Bologna’s art gallery would be unfruitful. (VNAY 512)
Boston, a city in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, USA: Nabokov would travel there twice in the June of 1950 (Vera would be stopped for speeding once) to have his teeth extracted by a dentist, “a wonderful Swiss.” On his way back to Ithaca, on the Old Karner Road near Albany he would be fortunate enough to capture some specimens of the Blue, Lycaeides samuelis. Later, it would turn out to be a species in its own right (so-called "Karner Blue"), one of Nabokov's most important entomological discoveries. (VNAY 168)
Le Boulou, a commune in Pyrénées-Orientales, France: V&V travel to and stay at Hôtel Établissement Thermal while hunting for butterflies in 1929. Nabokov starts writing Zaschita Luzhina. Vera would catch butterflies for the first time here, while engaging in other practicalities of lepping. (VNRY 288-89)
Bristol, an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia, USA: During their summer trip of 1941, the Nabokovs would stop at Hotel General Shelby. (VNAY 28)
Brussels, Belgium: Nabokov would go there for highly successful public readings of his work in 1932, 1936, 1937. It was a part of his reading network Paris-Brussels-Antwerp and Brussels-Paris-London. (VNRY 397, 422, 432)
Cambridge, a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA: The Nabokovs’ first address (from 1942) would be an apartment block at 8, Craigie Circle. They would stay here for several years while Nabokov would go to lecture in Wellesley College and do entomological work at MCZ Harvard (1942-48). (VNAY 45-6) On June 6, 1944 Nabokov would suffer a severe bout of food poisoning and will be taken to Cambridge City Hospital with the help of a friend. Owing to the severity of his condition, he would be transferred to Mount Auburn Hospital. This incident is most memorably sketched in a letter to Edmund Wilson (Letter No. 100, NWL 146). On February 1, 1953, the Nabokovs would arrive at 35 Brewster Street, the home of Robert Frost, which they rented until April. Due to the interior cold, they nicknamed their new residence the Jack Frost House. Not pleased with their new home, they moved to a different location by mid-February (VNAY 222).
Camenca (erstwhile Podolia now Transnistria, a disputed region between Moldova and Ukraine): Nabokov spent the August of 1911 in the second estate of his Sayn-Wittgenstein relatives. (VNRY 96)
Camogli, a town in the region of Liguria, Italy: In the April of 1967, the Nabokovs’ would stop at Hotel Cenobio dei Dogi on the Italian Riveria between Genoa and Rapallo. Nabokov would hike extensively in the mornings in pursuit of butterflies while work on Ada in the afternoons. His sister, Elena would come to visit them. (VNAY 524-5)
Cannes, in Côte d'Azur, France: The Nabokovs' would spend the month of July (in 1937) vacationing at the two-star Hôtel des Alpes. In the August of 1962, Nabokov would consider buying some land in Cannes upon their arrival, but would later decide against it. (VNAY 468)
Cernobbio, a comune in the province of Como, Lombardy, Italy: The Nabokovs’ would travel to Lake Como in the April of 1968 seeking rest after a bout of extensive work on Ada. They would return to Montreux a week later due to a sudden, health-related alarm of Anna Feigin. (VNAY 531)
Cervia, a seaside resort in the northern region of Emilia-Romagna, Italy: In the June of 1973, the Nabokovs’ would drive by taxi all the way down to the Adriatic Coast. Nabokov would resume his work on the new novel, Look at the Harlequins! which he hadn’t the time to attend to since February. (VNAY 616)
Champex-Lac, a village in the canton of Valais, Switzerland: The Nabokovs’ would stay for two months (June-August) of 1961 in Champex, capturing butterflies and working intensively on Pale Fire. Other family members and some visitors would come to see him. (VNAY 421)
Chianciano Terme, a comune (municipality) in the region of Tuscany, Italy: The Nabokovs’ would stay for month (June, 1966) in a small town of the Tuscany region. They were the only foreigners in their hotel, the Grand Hotel Excelsior, but good weather and nice locations would prove conducive to Nabokov’s butterfly expeditions. (VNAY 512-3)
Cooke City-Silver Gate, a census-designated place in Park County, Montana, USA: Vladimir and Vera would briefly stop here in the July of 1956. (VNAY 297)
Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA: Nabokov would join the faculty of Cornell from 1948, in conjunction with his arrival at Ithaca. It would be a fruitful partnership, with Nabokov referring to Cornell as his “permanent address” for his literary dealings (SL, Letter dated of April 8, 1958) till the success of Lolita enabled him to move to Switzerland. His office room would be located in the Goldwin Smith Hall where most of his lectures would be delievered. His later recollection of Cornell from an interview (Playboy, 1964), is in glowing terms: “Mind you, I loved teaching, I loved Cornell, I loved composing and delivering my lectures on Russian writers and European great books.” His tenure at Cornell would come to an end in 1959. (VNAY 129, 388)
Corsica, an island in the Mediterranean Sea, and a territory of France: In April of 1963, the Nabokovs’ would visit Calenzana and be delighted by the butterflies there. (VNAY 473)
Cortina d'Ampezzo, a comune in the Veneto region, Italy: After three weeks in Cervia (1973), the Nabokovs’ would move to a resort in Cortina. Nabokov would be delighted by the Valle d'Ampezzo and its butterflies and would compose briskly. They would return to Montreux in August, 1973. (VNAY 616)
Crans-Montana, a municipality in the canton of Valais, Switzerland: The Nabokovs’ would stop at the Hotel Beau-Sejour in Valais where Vera would recover from her recent surgery at a spa, while Nabokov would chase butterflies. They would find the place dismal enough to return to Montreux within a month (mid-August, 1964). (VNAY 485)
Crossville, a city in Cumberland County, Tennessee, USA: Nabokov and co. would stop at Cumberland Motor Court as a part of their summer trip of 1941.
Cureglia, a municipality in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland: The Nabokovs’ would move to a rented house with the ailing Anna Feigin in the village of Cureglia, four kms from the city of Lugano in July, 1969. (VNAY 569)
Dallas, Texas, USA: Nabokov and co. would stop at Grande Tourist Lodge in June during their trip of 1941. (VNAY 28)
Davos, a town in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland: After the labourious toil of Frenchifying Ada, the Nabokovs would seek rest at Davos. They would stay at Hotel Flüela from June 1975. On July 13, however, Nabokov would slip twice on a steep slope (possibly beneath the wooded lower section of the Jakobshorn cablecar) during one of his butterfly hikes, tumbling 150 feet downwards. He would be unable to get up on his own and would have to wait for two and a half hours before he’s rescued. (VNAY 652)
Les Diablerets, a ski resort in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland: The Nabokovs’ next stop during the summer of 1963. Dmitri would be well enough to join them at the Grand Hotel. (VNAY 474)
Draguignan, a commune in the Var department, France: The Nabokovs’ would fly to Nice (May, 1971) and from there to a tiny resort to Tourtour near Draguignan. Poor weather (rains) would keep him from butterfly-hunting but he would work steadily on Transparent Things. Vera would fall ill due to the bad weather. (VNAY 584)
Dresden, state of Saxony, Germany: Nabokov travels there for a reading in the basement of a Russian Church in 1932. (VNRY 379)
Dubois, a town in Fremont County, Wyoming, USA: The Nabokovs’ stop at the Rock Butte Court after crossing the Medicine Bow National Forest in the month of July, 1952. (VNAY 219)
Estes Park, a statutory town in Larimer County, Colorado, USA: Nabokov would take his family to Estes Park, the headquarters for Rocky Mountain National Park in June 1947. They would stay at the Columbine Lodge collecting butterflies on the flanks of Longs Peak (see the last episode of Chap 6, SM 138-9). Nabokov would lose 20 pounds of weight during this hike and would write the first chapters of his autobiography for The New Yorker. (VNAY 120)
Farmville, a town in Prince Edward and Cumberland counties, Virginia, USA: Nabokov would teach at the Longwood College in the December of 1942. (VNAY 54)
Florence, a city in the region of Tuscany, Italy: The Nabokovs’ would stop at Florence for two weeks (at the close of April 1966), investigating more than a dozen galleries for artworks. (VNAY 512)
Fréjus, a commune in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur région, France: Due to some unexpected money coming from one of his publications, the Nabokovs’ would be able to vacation the summer of 1939 at a Russian lodging house, Pension Rodnoy. (VNRY 508)
Fresno, a city in California, USA: Another one of stops for Nabokov and co. during their summer trip of 1941.
Galesburg, a city in Knox County, Illinois, USA: Nabokov would lecture at Knox College in the November of 1942. (VNAY 53)
Gardone Riviera, a town in the region of Lombardy, Italy: Owing to construction work at Montreux Palace, the Nabokovs’ would travel by car to Grand Hotel in Gardone, renting a room with a balcony directly overlooking Lake Garda in the spring of 1965. VN would work on the then titled, The Texture of Time. (VNAY 491)
Gatlinburg, a mountain resort in Sevier County, Tennessee, USA: In the April of 1959, the Nabokovs’ would head south wishing for a temperate climate. They would stop for four days near the Great Smoky Mountains National Park at Gatlinburg. (VNAY 381)
Geneva, Switzerland: Nabokov returns to Europe with Vera almost after twenty years, to meet his brother Kirill, and his sister Elena as well as to kickstart Dmitri’s operatic career. In the October of 1959, they spend two weeks at Geneva, staying at Hotel Beau Rivage where Elena works as a UNESCO librarian. Kirill, who is a travel agent at Brussels will meet up with them. (VNAY 393)
Genoa, a city in the region of Liguria, Italy: The Nabokovs’ would reach Genoa finally eluding the Italian press. They would find the city congenial to their taste staying at the Colombia Excelsior Hotel towards the end of November, 1959. Nabokov would begin a novel tentatively titled Letters to Terra (VNAY 400-1).
Gettysburg, a borough in Adams County, Pennsylvania, USA: Nabokov and co. begin their exploration of America on car driven by a helpful student and acquaintance, Dorothy Leuthold in the summer of 1941. Their actual destination was Stanford University where Nabokov was to teach his summer courses. This was their first journey towards the West and their introduction to “motel-America”. They would stop Motor Court Lee-Mead in Gettysburg. He and Vera would net butterflies along the way and for her (Dorothy’s) help, would generously name the first new species he discovered as Neonympha dorothea. (VNAY 28-9)
Glacier National Park, Montana, USA: The Nabokovs’ settle in the Lake View Cabins, between Babb and St. Mary, at the eastern edge of Glacier National Park, in a primitive one-room cabin. This is the June of 1958. Brian Boyd reports that they were enchanted by the place but had to leave early the following month because of poor weather. (VNAY 362)
Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona, USA: Nabokov and co. would stop at the Bright Angel Lodge (south rim). "As an accredited representative of the American Museum of Natural History, Nabokov was issued a permit to collect specimens in Grand Canyon National Park." It was there he would discover his first new species of butterfly and name it as Neonympha dorothea, in honor of the student who drove the Nabokov family across America during the trip westwards. (VNAY 28)
Gstaad, a resort town in the canton of Bern, Switzerland: In the August of 1971, the Nabokovs’ would rent a chalet-like apartment building between Saanen and Gstaad for themselves and Dmitri, Anna Feigin, Elena and Sonia Slonim. Nabokov would chase butterflies and work on Transparent Things. One morning, he and Dmitri would climb the 2,200-meter La Videmanette, above Rougemont in an exhilarating and memorable hike. (VNAY 585) They would return to this address (Residence Wyssmullerei) exactly a year later. (VNAY 605)
Hartsville, a city in Darlington County, South Carolina, USA: Nabokov would begin a whistle-stop lecturing tour to the southern states during the Fall of 1942. He would begin with Coker College at South Carolina staying at Salmon Hotel. (VNAY 49, 50)
Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA: Nabokov would teach a Spring term at Harvard in the year 1952 as a Visiting Lecturer in Slavic Languages and Literatures (as a replacement for Prof. Karpovich). His courses include Russian Modernism and Pushkin, and Humanities 2: The Novel (the Don Quixote lectures). He would also check up on Dmitri who had been admitted to Harvard the previous year. He would participate in the Morris Gray poetry series at Harvard's Sever Hall, in a season that included William Carlos Williams and Wallace Stevens (VNAY 212-6). Furthermore, his Guggenheim Fellowship would enable him to carry out his research for the mammoth Eugene Onegin book in the libraries of Widener and Houghton of Harvard over the years, 1953 and 1956. His last visit to Harvard would be for another reading in the year 1964. (VNAY 222, 295, 483)
Holbrook, a city in Navajo County, Arizona, USA: Nabokov and co. would stop at the Forest Court (in the summer of 1941) before moving onto the Grand Canyon National Park. It is here, in Arizona he would followed for five miles by a horse, “a total stranger.” (VNAY 28)
L'Honor-de-Cos, a commune in the Tarn-et-Garonne department in the Occitanie region, Southern France: VN and co. stopped for several days (during their Antibes trip in 1938) at the farm of their friends Mikhail and Elizaveta Kaminka, near Montauban, where they shared the peasant farmhouse with the Kaminkas, their cattle and a dog. (VNRY 492)
Hot Springs, a city in Garland County, Arkansas, USA: Nabokov and co. would stop at Wonderland Motor Courts in the June of 1941. (VNAY 28)
Imatra, a town and municipality in South Karelia, Finland: In January of 1917, after a second bout of pneumonia (the first had occurred in 1907), VN was advised by his doctors to recuperate in Finland. His mother would accompany him and Nabokov would meet Eva Lubrzynska, his next love after Valentina Shulgin. (VNRY 123) Nabokov had been to Finland earlier (in and around Lake Saimaa) as a part of a school excursion that had not pleased him much. (VNRY 119)
Ithaca, a city in the Tompkins County, New York, USA: Nabokov and his family would move here in the July of 1948. (VNAY 129) There addresses would be variable, staying at ten different locations as and when required. His favourite home would be at Cayuga Heights having the address of 880, Highland Road, which he would rent from Prof. Sharp. This would supply him with the famous image from Pale Fire, “I was the shadow of the waxwing slain” as well as hanging all the “furniture out there on the crystal land.” (VNAY 303) Their final address in Ithaca would be 404 Highland Road. (VNAY 358)
Jackson, a city in Madison County, Tennessee, USA: Nabokov and co. would stop at George Anna Hotel as a part of their summer trip of 1941.
Jackson Hole, a valley in Teton County, Wyoming, USA: The Nabokovs’ would stay at Battle Mountain Ranch in Hoback Canyon, south of the Grand Teton National Park in the summer of 1949. This and the corresponding area of Wilson (in Wyoming) was specially selected by Nabokov because he wanted to capture a particular subspecies of butterfly he had “described, named, fondled - but never actually taken,” Lycaeides argyrognomon longinus. (VNAY 142)
Jenny Lake, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming, USA: Dmitri would join Vladimir and Vera during their summer travel of 1951, taking the wheel along the way. At the Tetons, Dmitri Nabokov would do mountaineering much to the alarm of his parents. Nabokov would of course, transmute this intense and vivid experience (of Dmitri’s) into Lance. (VNAY 203)
Jerome, a town in the county of Yavapai, Arizona: Another one of stops for V&V along with the interviewer Robert Boyle. See the entry for Oak Creek Canyon and Sedona. (VNAY 384)
Kolberg-Heldburg, a district in Hildburghausen, in Thuringia, Germany: V&V spend the summer of 1929 while VN finishes Zaschita Luzhina. He even tries to buy some plot so as to build a dacha and stay there near Lake Ziest. (VNRY 290-1)
Kolbsheim, a commune in Grand Est, north-east France: V&V vacation at his cousin Nicolas’ summer home in the village of Alsace at Villa Oda in 1932. (VNRY 389-90)
Konstanz, a city located at the western end of Lake Constance, south of Germany: In the September of 1925, after completing the walking tour of Schwarzwald with his pupil, Vladimir would regroup with Vera, at Pension Zeiss, where she had rented two rooms with a view over the lake. (VNRY 244)
Krummhübel (now Karpacz) in Silesia, south-west Poland: Visits the skiing resort, with Véra and a tutee in 1925. (VNRY 254)
Lake Tahoe, California, USA: The Nabokovs’ would stay for two weeks at the Brockway Hotel, North Lake Tahoe in the year 1959. Despite the soothing view, their butterfly collection would be poor. (VNAY 387)
Laramie, a city in Albany County, Wyoming, USA: Vera would drive Vladimir to the town during their summer trip of 1952. Dmitri would also come with them, racing ahead in his own car. They would stop at the Lazy U Motel. Their ostensible purpose was to check the range and distribution of the (now known as) Nabokov’s Blues. (VNAY 217-8)
Las Vegas, a city in Clark County, Nevada, USA: One of the stops for Nabokov during his first trip westwards in June 1941.
Lausanne, Switzerland: VN goes there to visit Mme. Miauton ("Mademoiselle O") while returning from a skiing trip to Switzerland (with Robert de Calry) in December 1921 (VNRY 188). This episode is described in Speak, Memory (Chap 5) also featuring the swan vignette. Some fifty years later, in 1975 and in 1976 he would be hospitalized there at the Clinique Montchoisi, with failing health. He would be admitted for the last time in the June of 1977 at the Nestle Hospital, till his death there on the 2nd of July, 1977 (VNAY 653, 656, 660-1).
Lavey-les-Bains, a village in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland: Vladimir and Vera would settle at Hôtel des Salines in the Bex-les-Bains, a twenty-minute drive away in the upper Rhone valley during the summer of 1968. Nabokov would continue his work on Ada. (VNAY 532-3)
Lawrence, a city in Douglas County, Kansas, USA: Nabokov would conduct a three-day trip to lecture in University of Kansas in the April of 1954 for a sum of $400. (VNAY 259) He would stay at the Eldridge Hotel during the trip. (LTV 498)
Lenzerheide, a resort in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland: The Nabokovs’ would visit this resort in the June of 1972 for a month, where Sergey Nabokov (cousin) would visit. They would discuss Field’s ongoing biography. (VNAY 605)
Leukerbad, a municipality in the canton of Valais, Switzerland: Vladimir and Vera would arrive in Loeche-les-Bains on the onset of summer 1963, where Dmitri would be recuperating from his illness at Rheumaklinik. The concerned parents would stay at Hotel Bristol. (VNAY 474)
Limone Piemonte, a comune in the region of Piedmont, Italy: As the summer rolled on, the Nabokovs’ would seek a higher altitude this time (after two months at Camogli, 1967) at a ski resort near the French border. The area was chosen for a particular butterfly, the rare subspecies Boloria graeca tendensis, which Nabokov hoped to capture. (VNAY 525)
London, England: V. D. Nabokov would rent an apartment in South Kensington and later at Chelsea while VN would enroll at Cambridge University in 1919. (VNRY 165-6) VN would later return in 1937 as a part of his reading network tour Brussels-Paris-London. He would search for employment there in 1939, staying at some of his acquaintances' homes. (VNRY 435) In the November of 1959, Nabokov would meet Graham Greene (one of the first to laud Lolita) and appear on The Bookman television show. They would stay at the Ritz Hotel where a party would be thrown on the successful launch of Lolita in Britain. He would deliever his lecture at King's College, Cambridge entitled Russian Classics, Censors and Readers. (VNAY 399)
Los Angeles, a city in California, USA: Towards the end of February of 1960, the Nabokovs would lodge at Beverly Hills Hotel to discuss with Kubrick the cinematization of Lolita. Later, they would rent a villa (from March) at 2088 Mandeville Canyon Road, Brentwood Heights where Nabokov would begin writing the screenplay. (VNAY 406)
Lubbock, Texas, USA: Nabokov and co. would stay at Hotel Motor during their summer trip of 1941.
Lugano, a city in the canton of Ticino, Switzerland: At Lugano, in the beginning of December 1959, Vladimir and Vera would take up two rooms at the Grand Hotel, hoping to work on a new novel. A cable asking Nabokov to reconsider writing the screenplay for Lolita would arrive to which he assents. (VNAY 403) They would return ten years later, this time lodging at Hotel Splendide Royal, in the June of 1969. (VNAY 569)
Luray, a town in Page County, Virginia, USA: Nabokov and co. would stop here during their summer trip of 1941 at Parkhurst Inn & Cottages.
Marienbad (now Mariánské Lázně), in Karlsbard, Bohemia (Czech Republic): The Nabokovs' would regroup at Villa Busch in the July of 1937. He would write the short story, Cloud, Castle, Lake there. (VNRY 439)
Menton, a commune in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur région, France: The Nabokovs' would stay for more than six months during the period 1937-38. VN would finish Dar there, while a museum in Menton, would inspire the short-story, The Visit to the Museum. They would return to Menton in the beginning of the year 1960, for a month at Hotel Astoria. (VNAY 404)
Milan, a city in the region of Lombardy, Italy: The Nabokovs’ would reach Milan by taxi staying at Hotel Principe di Savoia in the December of 1959. They would be a grand reception by the Italian publishers of Lolita while Dmitri gets an audition with singing teacher Maestro Campogalliani. (VNAY 403) They would stop at the same hotel in the November of 1960. (VNAY 416) They would come to Milan whenever Dmitri would be performing.
Misdroy (now Międzyzdroje) in Poland: Vladimir and Vera stay there for a month (VN hunts for moths) in August 1926. They would return there in July, 1928. (VNRY 262, 286)
Montreux, a resort town in the canton of Vaud, Switzerland: Vladimir and Vera would first move to Hotel Belmont in the August of 1961. The surrounding locale would be much conducive to Nabokov’s writing. Indeed, Switzerland would prove to be enchanting enough for the Nabokovs’ to delay their return to America till 1962. Two months later, they would move to Montreux Palace Hotel, renting a suite of several rooms there (for the price of one) in Le Cygne wing. This would be their choice of residence till Nabokov’s death in 1977. During the first year there, they would stay on the third floor (Rooms 35-38) while the following year would find them in the much quieter (and smaller) suite on the sixth floor. (VNAY 421-3, 458) As Nabokov would write (in Pale Fire) and later report in an interview (TV-13 NY, 1965), Montreux Palace has “one of the most enchanting and inspiring gardens I know. I’m especially fond of its weeping cedar, the arboreal counterpart of a very shaggy dog with hair hanging over its eyes.” After a formal funeral at Vevey, Nabokov’s ashes would be interred at the Clarens cemetery (on a hill between Vevey and Montreux) on July 8, 1977. (VNAY 661) After Vera Nabokov’s death on April 7, 1991 in Vevey, her ashes would be buried in the same urn as her husband’s at the Clarens Cemetery. (VNAY 662)
Monza, a city in the region of Lombardy, Italy: Vladimir and Vera embark on a tour of Italy, mid-April 1966, exploring museums and art galleries for the projected work, Butterflies in Art as well as Ada. They would begin with Monza where Dmitri had moved to from Milan. (VNAY 512)
Moulinet, a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department, southeast France: In the July of 1938, Nabokov and his family would stay at Hôtel de la Poste, where Nabokov hunts for butterflies and catches what he suspects is a hybrid or a new species of the Blues. (VNAY 488)
Mount Carmel, an unincorporated community in Kane County, Utah, USA: In the May of 1956, Vladimir and Vera would stay in a ranchito (log-and-stone cottage) capturing butterflies and working on the translation of A Hero of Our Time. Their response to the place was very enthusiastic, given its “wild” setting and because of its proximity to the Bryce Canyon National Park, Zion National Park, and the north rim of Grand Canyon (Arizona). They would finally leave in July, as the summer became hotter. (VNAY 296-7)
Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA: On the invitation of Thomas Barbour, the director of M.C.Z., Nabokov would be appointed to a part-time position as Research Fellow in Entomology at the MCZ for the year 1942-43 at a salary of $1000. (VNAY 45) He would continue in this position (with a slight increment) till he leaves Cambridge in 1948. (VNAY 61) Nabokov would write to Edmund Wilson in 1942 that “It is amusing to think that I managed to get into Harvard with a butterfly as my sole backer.” (NWL 76) In a later interview, he would retrospect his years at MCZ as: “Since I devoted up to six hours daily to this kind of research my eyesight was impaired for ever; but on the other hand, the years at the Harvard Museum remain the most delightful and thrilling in all my adult life”. (1971 Interview, Bayerischer Rundfunk)
Naples, a city in the region of Campania, Italy: At Museo Nazionale in Naples, Nabokov would notice the Stabian fresco of a girl strewing flowers, which he would work into Ada’s texture. They would stay for four days in Naples in May, 1966. (VNAY 512)
Newfound Lake, located in Lakes Region in Grafton County, New Hampshire, USA: The Nabokovs’ would spend the summer of 1946 “on the shores of the dismal lake at a horrible place called Don Jerry Lodge.” Their dismay is partly based on the lack of success in capturing butterflies. (VNAY 107)
New York, USA: The Nabokovs’ would be house guests at 32E 61st Street upon their arrival in America in 1940. They would move to 1326 Madison Avenue a few weeks later and then to a cramped flat at 35W 87th Street. (VNAY 12) In October 1956, Nabokov will travel to New York to discuss with various editors, their plans to publish excerpts from Lolita. In February of 1959, the Nabokovs’ would take an apartment in the Windermere Hotel at NYC. (VNAY 380) Before departing to Paris in 1959, the Nabokovs' would stay (during September) at the Park Crescent Hotel, 87th and Riverside Drive, Manhattan. (VNAY 387) From mid-October to November of 1960, the Nabokovs would rent a room in the Hampshire House overlooking the Central Park. Nabokov would obviously be impressed by this enchanting location. It is here that the structure of Pale Fire “an elaborate commentary to a short poem” would come to him. They would return in the March of 1964. (VNAY 416) Again during the June of 1962, the Nabokovs’ would return to New York for the premiere of the movie, Lolita (dir. Kubrick). (VNAY 466)
Nice, a city in Alpes-Maritimes département, France: Towards the end of November 1960, the Nabokovs’ would settle in the French Riviera first at Hotel Negresco and then to a rented apartment in 57, promenade des Anglais, a few doors down from the hotel. He would be heavily engrossed in composing Shade’s poem of Pale Fire. Family members would visit him during Christmas. Also, during his stay in Nice, he would travel to and capture three specimens of the rare Chapman's Hairstreak from the nearby hill of Villeneuve-Loubet region. (VNAY 417-8)
Oak Creek Canyon, a river gorge in north Arizona, USA: The Nabokovs' would spend two months of the summer here, in 1959 at a cabin named Forest Houses between Flagstaff and Sedona. The picturesque spot and the attractive distribution of flora and fauna would enthrall Nabokov, where he would also revise the translation of "Invitation to a Beheading”. One day he would be accompanied by the writer, Robert H. Boyle (who came for an interview for Sports Illustrated) on an unsuccessful day hunt. (VNAY 382-5)
Palo Alto, a charter city in Santa Clara County, California, USA: The Nabokovs finally arrive at their destination after their meandering summer trip of 1941. Nabokov will teach two summer courses at Stanford University on creative writing and Russian Literature. They stay at a rented home on 230 Sequoia Avenue. A month later, (in July) Nabokov would learn that The Real Life of Sebastian Knight has been accepted for publication. (VNAY 29, 33)
Paris, France: VN travels there for public reading (which was highly successful) and meets several literary figures, including Khodasevich in 1932. (VNRY 390) He would go there to give public readings over the years 1936, 1937 staying at Fondaminsky’s address. (VNRY 423, 432) In the May of 1937, the French authorities issue Nabokov the 'Nansen' passport (for Russian émigrés) which should have been obtained in Berlin. (VNRY 438) The Nabokovs would return back to a Paris apartment in the October of 1938. Their final address in Paris (1939) before immigrating to United States would be 59 rue Boileau, Paris 16e, which is described later by a Nabokov in an interview as: “A few days ago I got a letter from friends in Paris. They write that the house where I had been living with my wife and son before we left had been hit by a bomb from a German plane and was completely destroyed.” (VNRY 507, VNAY 13) In the October of 1959, Gallimard would stage a mammoth reception in Paris for Nabokov courtesy of the French Lolita. The Nabokovs' would stay at Hotel Continental bracing for a hectic week of Parisian press, agents, admirers, interviewers during the surging fame of Lolita. (VNAY 394) On the occasion of the hugely successful launch of Ada ou l’ardeur (the French translation of Ada), Nabokov would travel to Paris for his only live (though carefully planned) interview, Bernard Pivot’s Apostrophes in May 1975. (VNAY 651-2)
Piraeus, a port city in the region of Attica, Greece: As the Red Army would recapture Crimea, the Nabokov family were already aboard the Greek steamer Nadezhda. For the next three weeks until late of May 1919, they would stay in the resort hotel of Neon Phaleron. Nabokov would manage three love affairs during his stay, although his butterfly hunting will be dismal. As he would note down: “after braving the constant resentment of intolerant shepherd dogs, I searched in vain for Gruner's Orange-tip, Heldreich's Sulphur, Krueper's White: I was in the wrong part of the country.” (VNRY 163-4)
Pompeii, an ancient city near Naples, in the region of Campania, Italy: The Nabokovs’ would visit Pompeii for two days in the May of 1966. Boyd mentions Nabokov would find the old streets of Pompeii of “remarkable beauty and no less remarkable tawdriness.” They would try to inspect an old brothel, the Lupanare, for erotic frescoes but would be denied entry. (VNAY 512)
Ponte di Legno, a comune in the region of Lombardy, Italy: Due to the intensifying heat, the Nabokovs’ would retreat northwards towards the shivering cold of Ponte di Legno at Hotel Grande Albergo Excelsior. They would spend a month till the August of 1966, chasing butterflies whenever "the sun would creep through amidst the incessant rains". (VNAY 513)
Portal, an unincorporated community in Cochise County, Arizona, USA: Vladimir and Vera “had arranged in advance to rent a cottage on a ranch designed by its owner as a kind of wildlife preserve." VN would hunt for butterflies in the Chiricahua Mountains from morning till noon and work on Lolita from the afternoon. They would leave early in June 1953, due to Vera’s dislike of rattlesnakes. (VNAY 224)
Prague, Austria: Elena Nabokov (mother) moves there with her youngest daughter to survive on a modest pension for Russian émigrés in 1924. Olga (sister) follows soon. (VNRY 220) VN visits them in the years 1924, 1930, 1932, 1936. (VNAY 233, 354, 378) With his wife, he visits in 1925, 1937. (VNRY 243, 438) In June 1937, he would see his mother for the last time before her death in 1939. (VNRY 439, 507)
Praia da Rocha, a beach resort in the southern section of Portimão, Portugal: During the spring of 1971, Nabokov flies (for the first time) with Vera to Lisbon and from there to Praia da Rocha, a beach along the Algrave coast hoping to enjoy the lovely scenery. Unfortunately, it would turn out to be “horribly cold with a rattling wind and booming sea.” They would return a week early to Montreux. (VNAY 583)
Reggio Emilia, a city in the region of Emilia-Romagna, Italy: Towards the end of April 1961, Vladimir and Vera would travel to Reggio Emilia for Dmitri’s operatic debut in La Bohème. (VNAY 420)
Ridgefield, town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, USA: Nabokov conducts a side-trip to meet up with actor Mikhail Chekhov at the end of March 1941. (VNAY 26)
Riverside, a town in Carbon County, Wyoming, USA: The Nabokovs’ would briefly stop at this small town, but quickly move forward due to the noisy ongoing celebrations of Independence Day. Brian Boyd reports that the celebrations were excessive enough for the local police to take into custody a local barman. (VNAY 218)
Rome, Italy: The Nabokovs’ next stop during their European tour of 1959 would be at Grand Hotel di Roma in Rome. They would stay here for ten days, before leaving for Sicily for more warmth, peace and quiet. (VNAY 399-400)
Rozhdestveno, Russia: The estate of Rozhdestveno belonged to Uncle Ruka which Nabokov inherited in 1916. Brian Boyd describes it as follows: “As well as building schools and a hospital there, Ivan Rukavishnikov (VN’s maternal grandfather) had also invested in the area’s past by buying the stately neoclassical manor of Rozhdestveno, four facades of pillars and pediments in white-painted timber rather than plaster or stone. Though the paint has flaked and the laths have sprung, the manor still dominates the southern end of the village from the oak-and-linden-covered bank of the Gryazno river, which flows into the Oredezh at the foot of the manor hill” (VNRY 46). Nevertheless, the structure miraculously managed to survive two wars, a revolution, a civil war and many other mishaps. After a fire in April 1995, the building had to undergo a restoration. Currently, there is a park, a church and the Rukavishnikov family crypt at the village of Rozhdestveno. See also entries for Batovo and Vyra.
Saas-Fee, a municipality in canton of Valais, Switzerland: In the last week of June 1970, the Nabokovs’ would spend a month at the Grand Hotel in the village of Saas Fee. Boyd reports Nabokov noting in his diary on June 30, “After many gropings and false starts”, Transparent Things had “burst into life (8:15 pm, after raclette with white wine).” He would work on it steadily for two months. (VNAY 577)
Saint Paul, a city in Ramsey County, Minnesota, USA: Nabokov stays “at a very fancy hotel” and lectures at the Macalester College during his tour of 1942. (VNAY 51)
Salt Lake City, Utah, USA: Nabokov would travel to Little Cottonwood Canyon (some 30 miles SE) in the Wasatch Range, in 1943 to stay at the Alta Lodge which James Laughlin had just opened. It was largely regarding his book, Nikolai Gogol which was to be published by New Directions. The conversation that ensued is somewhat dramatized at the end of his Gogol book. On the other hand, Nabokov would catch several butterflies and moths, one of which (a tiny geometrid moth) will bear his name, Eupithecia nabokovi (McDunnough, 1945), in short, ‘Nabokov’s Pug’. (VNAY 63-4) During his westward trip of 1949, he would attend a writers' conference in the aforesaid city where he would enjoy the company of artists like Wallace Stegner, John Crowe Ransom and especially Ted Geisel ('Dr. Seuss'). (VNAY 141)
San Bernardino, a city in California, USA: One of the stops for Nabokov during his summer trip of 1941.
Santa Fé, New Mexico, USA: Nabokov and co. would stay at the El Rey Courts. In New Mexico, Nabokov was nearly arrested for painting a farmer's trees with sugar to attract a certain kind of moth. (VNAY 28)
San Remo, a city in the region of Liguria, Italy: The Nabokovs’ would drive to Hotel Excelsior-Bellevue, at San Remo catching up with Dmitri, Elena and her son Vladimir Sikorski during the Christmas of 1959. Various future endeavours would be discussed within the Nabokov family. (VNAY 303-4)
Santa Monica, a city Los Angeles County, California, USA: Nabokov and co. would stop here during their summer trip of 1941, presumably at the motel of Mission Court. (VNAY 28)
Sarnico, a comune in the region of Lombardy, Italy: The Nabokovs’ would travel to Sarnico, on the Lago d’Iseo, between Bergamo and Brescia, to a house Dmitri had been lent by friends. They would spend five days there towards the end of July 1974 and would return to Montreux early August. (VNAY 646)
Saurat, a commune in Ariège department, south-west France: V&V go there in April, 1929 (a month later) after their stay in Eastern Pyrenees (see above) for a warmer climate. It results in his second article concerning the lepidoptera of the two regions; Ariège and Pyrénées-Orientales. (VNRY 290)
Schwarzwald (Black Forest) in south-west Germany: VN takes his pupil Alexander on a hiking tour in August 1925 through several locations, including Freiburg, Döggingen, Boll, Reiselfingen, Titisee, Feldberg, St. Blasien, Wehr, Todtmoos, Säckingen, Waldshut, Konstanz. (VNRY 244)
Sedona, a city in Arizona (near Flagstaff between the counties of Yavapai and Coconino): One of the stops for Nabokov and Vera, accompanied by Boyle (from Sports Illustrated) during the summer of 1959, as they hunt for butterflies. One of his ostensible targets would be the “wood nymph” (Cyllopsis pertepida dorothea). See the above entry for Oak Creek Canyon. (VNAY 384)
Sewanee, a census-designated place in Franklin County, Tennessee, USA: Continuing his tour of 1942, Nabokov would lecture at the University of the South, Tennessee. (VNAY 51)
Solliès-Pont, a commune in Var department south-east of France, north east of Toulon: Nabokov works as a farmhand at Domaine de Beaulieu (a vineyard and an orchard) in 1923 to stave off depression after his father’s death. This was the basis of Molignac, a place where Martin Edelweiss (Glory), also works in a farm. Brian Boyd mentions that Nabokov’s favorite task was to irrigate the fields from a surrounding canal. He also enjoyed the fact that during this time, he was becoming “brown” and could easily pass off as a common farmhand (VNRY 208-9). [Also, see here, a memorable and humorous description of the place by Gerard de Vries.]
St. Moritz, a resort in canton of Graubünden (Engadine), Switzerland: In the December of 1921, Nabokov would ski in St. Moritz with his friend, Robert de Calry. (VNRY 188) Some forty years later, in the July of 1965, the Nabokovs’ would move to St. Moritz, stopping at Suvretta House. He would read Edmund Wilson’s harsh review of Eugene Onegin and counter with an equally sharp attack. (VNAY 492)
St. Petersburg, Russia: Born in Bolshaya Morskaya Street 47, just a few hundred meters from St. Isaac’s Square. The joint country estates Vyra, Batovo and the Rozhdestveno Memorial Estate (which Nabokov eventually inherited), located 75 km south of St. Petersburg are all adjacent on the banks of the river Oredezh. In late spring of 1899, Vladimir would be christened in an Orthodox ceremony at St. Spiridon Trimifuntski (VNRY 42). In the years 1906-07, the family would move to a first floor apartment at Chaikovskogo Street 38 near Taurid Garden. Nabokov attended the Tenishev (High) School on Mokhovaya Street 33-35 in St. Petersburg. (VNRY 38-9, 86-7)
Seythenex, a commune in Haute-Savoie department (now it is merged as Faverges-Seythenex), south-east France: VN and co. would first survey Pension Briandon, upon finding it unsuitable would stay at the home of the proprietress’ friend during their summer vacation of 1939. (VNRY 508)
Stresa, a town in Piedmont region, Italy: The Nabokovs’ will drive on to Stresa by car in the May of 1961. The weather was wet and windy for the nearby Lake Maggiore to look like a raging ocean, but the Nabokovs’ would be happy to stay there. Nabokov would check Dmitri’s translation of the first chapter of The Gift, while continuing his work on Pale Fire. (VNAY 420)
Taormina, a commune in the Metropolitan City of Messina, Sicily, Italy: The Nabokovs’ would stop at the Hotel Excelsior in Taormina, during the November of 1959. Here too, they would chased by press, interviewers, photographers and would dislike the island. However, one day, in a sudden flash of inspiration, Nabokov would envisage the screenplay of Lolita. (VNAY 400) They would be back here in 1970. (VNAY 576)
Taos, a town in Taos County, New Mexico, USA: The Nabokovs’ summer trip of 1954 would find them in the less than congenial town of Taos. Nabokov would write in a letter dated of 1958: “In 1954, my wife and I, when trying to establish convenient headquarters for our butterfly-hunting expedition in New Mexico, made the dreadful mistake of renting sight unseen an adobe house in dreadful trite Taos,—and that house belonged to a (less opulent) Mariss, with a carriage-lamp on a pole just inside the entrance hall, and fancy danglers, and spices.” (SL 182) Nevertheless they would have to make do for the months of July and August there. Vera would suffer a severe bout of food poisoning towards the end of their stay. (VNAY 261-2)
Tarasp, a village in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland: In mid-August 1966, the Nabokovs’ would return to Switzerland in the Engadin. They would stay at the Grand Hotel there till September, 1966. (VNAY 513)
Telluride, a town in San Miguel County, Colorado, USA: Vladimir and Vera (Dmitri would join them later) would first stop at Skyline Ranch, then at Valley View Court during their summer trip of 1951. He would go to capture the first known female of Lycaeides sublivens (he had already described a male specimen, but to gain full recognition, one has to deposit both the male and the female of the species). This is the Tomboy Road where Humbert Humbert has a glimmer of realization of how Dolores Haze couldn’t be among the school children noisily and happily playing (see Lolita, Pt 2, Ch 36; NWL, Letter No. 231, 294 and also VNAY 202-3).
Toronto, a city in the province of Ontario, Canada: Nabokov would forfeit a research trip to Washington for $150 he would get for lecturing at the University of Toronto during the semester break of January 1950. He would stay at Park Plaza Hotel and compose a poem, “The Room”. (VNAY 145-6)
Trinity College, Cambridge University, England: Nabokov enrolls there in the year 1919 with two rooms allotted to him and his fellow expatriate in the south-west corner of the Great Court. Later in 1920, he rents a room in 2 Trinity Lane. (VNRY 166-7) He revisited Cambridge in 1937 during his reading network tour Brussels-Paris-London. (see above entry for London)
Valdosta, a city in Lowndes County, Georgia, USA: Nabokov would continue his lecture tour of 1942 with a stop at Georgia State Women's College. (VNAY 50-1)
Verbier, a village in the canton of Valais, Switzerland: In the July of 1968, VN would be driven to Verbier by Vera who would return back to Montreux to look after the ailing Anna Feigin. He is neck deep into Ada (Part 3) along with his continuing ‘lepping’. Vera would join her husband later in July after another acquaintance would help Anna Feigin out. (VNAY 533)
Vevey, a town in the canton of Vaud, Switerzland: Nabokov would be cremated at a simple nonreligious funeral service in Vevey on July 7, 1977 with only a few dozen family members and some friends attending. (VNAY 661) On April 7, 1991, Vera Nabokov would die at a hospital in Vevey. (VNAY 662)
Vyra, Russia: One of three estates (“three linked rings in a ten-mile chain,” SM 61) of what Nabokov fondly calls as “the Nabokov lands”. The manor at Vyra, where he spent the never-ending summers of his childhood was the main locus of Nabokov’s imagination and his enduring nostalgia. It is located some fifty miles south of St. Petersburg where Nabokov’s mother, Elena, had spent her own childhood, adding to what Nabokov calls a sense of an “ever-present past”. And as Brian Boyd writes: “Vyra and its surrounds, are the places [that Nabokov] loved more than any on earth. If Russian civilization meant only St. Petersburg to him, Russian landscape meant only the forests of fir and beech and the bogs and meadows characteristic of the region around Vyra” (VNRY 45). Today however, little remains of “the unassuming wooden two-story home” save “for a scraggly clump of trees”. The deserted building had survived World War II as well as the German occupation but was burned down by playing children soon after. But we would do well to retrace a gesture which is as memorable as anything else written on Vrya: “I would draw [Abbazia, 1905] with my forefinger on my pillow the carriage road sweeping up to our Vyra house, the stone steps on the right, the carved back of a bench on the left, the alley of oaklings beginning beyond the bushes of honeysuckle, and a newly shed horseshoe, a collector’s item (much bigger and brighter than the rusty ones I used to find on the seashore), shining in the reddish dust of the drive” (SM 76). See also entries for Rozhdestveno and Batovo.
Washington D.C., USA: Nabokov would visit the Smithsonian Institute for entomological purposes (sorting, research-related) in 1942. (VNAY 54) He would maintain a correspondence with the Lepidoptera Department.
Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, Canada: Continuing their summer trip of 1958, Vladimir and Vera would settle for 10 days at Alberta. They would have progressed further northwards, but for poor weather had to retreat towards the South. (VNAY 362-3)
Wellesley, a town in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, USA: Nabokov would lecture at the Wellesley College for the first time in the March of 1941. He is appointed there (in May) for a one-year position as Resident Lecturer of Comparative Literature at a salary of $3000. His address from September (after his first westward trip of America) of 1941 would be 19 Appleby Road. Later in the summer of 1945, their address would be 9 Abbott Street. In the August of the same year, they would move to 6, Cross Street. (VNAY 25, 36, 87)
Wellfleet, a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, USA: In the Summer of 1944, the Nabokovs’ would spend two weeks with Edmund Wilson and his then-wife, Mary McCarthy at their home. (VNAY 77-8)
West Wardsboro, village in the state of Vermount, USA: The Nabokovs' would stay at the country house of the Harvard Professor Mikhail Karpovich during the summers of 1940 and 1942. (VNAY 14-15, 45)
West Yellowstone, a town in Gallatin County, Montana, USA: The Nabokovs’ would rent the Duck Ranch in the August of 1951. Brian Boyd mentions VN jotting down his impressions as, “Aspens, pines, more warm-blooded animals than I have ever seen in one place"—including a herd of cattle that called once to mill around their cabin—"not a human for miles around, a distant gate we had to unlock when we drove through on a road with more flowers than sand—and all this for a couple of dollars per day.” (VNAY 203)
Wiesbaden, state of Hesse, Germany: The Nabokov family stay at the Hotel Oranien in the year 1905. (VNRY 52, corrected VNRG 73)
Wilson, a census-designated place in Teton County, Wyoming, USA: The Nabokovs' would settle in Teton Pass Ranch, a peasant lodge in a meadow at the foot of the Teton Range, continuing their tour of Wyoming in the summer of 1949. This was the first time, Vladimir had traveled to Western America in his own car (driven by Vera, of course). (VNAY 142)
Yalta, Crimea: The Nabokovs’ spend the years 1917-1918 either in The Panin Palace at Gaspra or in the domain of Livadiya largely due to the Bolshevist uprisings. (VNRY 136, 149-50)
Yosemite National Park, western-Sierra Nevada, Central California, USA: Nabokov would be driven around the park for ten days by two of his friends. Again, he would be permitted to collect specimens on the account being accredited by the American Museum of National History. Brian Boyd reports that Nabokov was so intent in his chase that he would step on a sleeping bear. (VNAY 33)
Zermatt, a mountain resort in the canton of Valais, Switzerland: In July 1962, Nabokov would travel to Zermatt, hunting for butterflies where a BBC interview (over two days) would also take place. He would be reunited with a former schoolmate, Samuel Rosov. (VNAY 467-8) He would be back at Hotel Mont-Cervin Palace with Vera in 1974, hunting butterflies and revising the French translation of Ada. (VNAY 644-45)
Ziestsee (Lake Ziest), a lake in Brandenburg, Germany: In the July of 1929, Nabokov acquires a plot of land so as to build a small dacha on the nearby Lake Ziest. However, they change their plans and let the land revert back to the owner. This is one of the few times during his exile that Nabokov has tried buying some real estate in order to settle in. See the above entry of Kolberg-Heldburg.
Zoppot (now Sopòt, Poland), then on Germany's Baltic coast: VN stays for two weeks in August 1925 as escort of pupil Alexander Sak. (VNRY 243)