Vladimir Nabokov

17 Calendar

New posts at the top

Age: 48

Occupation: Lawyer, politician, journalist

Non-fiction

Project 1917 is a series of events that took place a hundred years ago as described by those involved. It is composed only of diaries, letters, memoirs, newspapers and other documents

Vladimir Nabokov

Gaspra, Crimea, Russian Republic

16.12.17

On Sunday I reached Gaspra. I am staying here for the entire winter.

, and others

Comment

Vladimir Nabokov

07.11.17

The ministers were assembled in small groups. Some walked back and forth about the hall, others stood at the window. S. N. Tretyakov Sat down next to me on the sofa and began to talk indignantly about how Kerensky had abandoned them all and betrayed them, and that the situation was hopeless. Others (Tereshchenko, I remember, who was in a highly nervous and excited state) were saying that all we had to do was “hang on” for another 48 hours, and troops loyal to the government would arrive in the city.

#Revolution. Online #The Winter Palace

Vladimir Nabokov

Mariinsky Palace, Petrograd, Russian Republic

06.11.17

It was the usual tedious and particularly pitiful and useless under these circumstances process - looking for such half-way phrasings that would be supported by some public majority.

#Revolution. Online

Vladimir Nabokov

Petrograd, Russian Republic

02.11.17

Rumours about the Bolshevik rally in the coming days spread around the city, worrying and disturbing everyone. In these days, there was given - a completely academic - order to arrest Lenin.

, and others

2 Like

1 Comment

Felix Dzerzhinsky

Petrograd, Russian Republic

27.09.17

Attends the All-Russia Democratic Conference

Also attending: Kerensky, Trotsky, Maugham, Chkheidze, Nabokov, Kamenev, Avksentiev and others.

Vladimir Nabokov

33 Mokhovaya street, Petrograd, Russian Republic

20.09.17

Sits his final exams at the Tenishevsky college

, and others

2 Like

4 Comment

Vladimir Nabokov

Moscow, Russian Empire

29.08.17

Those who attended the so-called State Conference at Moscow’s Bolshoi Theatre in August 1917 have not, of course, forgotten Kerensky's speeches – the first, which opened the conference, and the last, which closed it. The effect he exerted on those who were seeing or hearing him for the first time was a depressing and repellent one. See more

, and others

3 Like

Comment

Vladimir Nabokov

Petrograd, Russian Empire

16.07.17

The mug of the city has changed quickly. Private cars have disappeared, armored cars and trucks started rushing by, filled with armed workers and soldiers. Once in a while, in various locations, fire fights broke out, shots would crackle from different directions. See more

, and others

1 Like

Comment

Vladimir Nabokov

Petrograd, Russian Empire

25.06.17

The Provisional Government is under a deep illusion. They thought that the “import” of Lenin and Co by the Germans would in itself completely discredit them in the eyes of the public and prevent anyone from successfully preaching them. And indeed, at different rallis, the subject of the “sealed car” always had great success. See more

, and others

1 Like

Comment

Vladimir Nabokov

Petrograd, Russian Empire

28.05.17

It is difficult to imagine what must have been going on in Kerensky’s mind when, in the space of a few short weeks and months, the revolution had thrust him into such dizzying heights as he found himself. In his soul he must have been forced to admit that all the homage paid him, the idolisation, See more

, and others

1 Like

Comment

Alexandre Benois with Vladimir Nabokov

38, 1st line of Vasilyevsky Island, Petrograd, Russian Empire

26.01.17

I tried to induce him (Nabokov) to give me some decisive answers on the question of war and peace. But in vain. Nabokov is in thrall to the idea of pacifism while simultaneously believing it “necessary to see the war through to the end”. As if this “end” were not also the end of everyone of his own ilk, and more generally speaking, the end of a culture which, berate it though we might, we ultimately love. At any rate, we cannot expect that the madman propelled by fate to the country’s very zenith will heed the voice of reason, or even simply the imperative of self-preservation – his own no less than that of the entire country with which he has been entrusted!

, and others

1 Like

Comment

Age: 48

Occupation: Lawyer, politician, journalist