Nabokov vs. Набоков: A Literary Investigation of Linguistic Relativity

Nabokov's autobiographies in Russian and in English are indeed quite different. Based on the sentence from Speak, Memory's foreword quoted above, we can assume that some of those differences are based on the language of creation. Other factors, such as two very different readerships and a drastic change in Nabokov's reputation (Lolita appeared between Drugie berega and Speak, Memory), affect Nabokov's writing in each. The present study recognizes this, but offers a framework for identifying which differences are directly related to language.