Day 8 - Vladimir Nabokov Vladimir was born in Russia inside a well-off household. He was an aristocrat and always maintained this haughty aura due to all the comforts he had in his infancy. He was raised speaking Russian, English, French, and German. In fact, his most notable literary works such as Lolita were written in English, a language he knew well. The same as many other Russian aristocrats of that time, Vladimir’s family fled to Europe escaping from the revolutionaries, that's how they came to settle in France but they also spent some years in England and Germany. In England, Vladimir took his passions to the next level enrolling himself in some literary and entomology courses. In fact, Vladimir was fond of butterflies, and when he wasn’t writing he was either playing chess or chasing butterflies with a net, there are some pictures of him performing these three activities, always with a serious countenance. Later in life, he married his long-life love, with whom he moved to America escaping from the war. Once in America, Vladimir worked as a literature professor in different institutions, and as a curious fact, many of his leading characters were literature teachers or had a liking for literature, for example, Humbert, Pale Fire, and Pnin just to cite a few. I have read some of his books and my favorite is without a doubt, Lolita. I won’t go into details about this book because I may get blocked again, however, I’d like to call attention to the controversy that this book provokes. I mention this because the sole name of the book, which is unfortunately mostly associated with the movie, generates bitterness in some people. Nevertheless, to be fair, this antagonism is observable for the most part in those who have never read the book, and consequently only have a misconception about what the story is about. After this best-seller, Pale Fire came, and for most critics, this one is his masterpiece. In this case, I beg to differ, the book bored me to death, and I have to admit that I skimmed through those paragraphs in which the king went on talking about his imaginary kingdom. Nonetheless, I admit that in literary terms the book is sublime, I mean Navokob had to write a poem to write a book about the poem which seems like a lot of work! Especially for his wife because she was Navokob’s right hand, she edited, proofread, and translated his writing always with care and meticulousness because she was also his number one fan.