1899-1917

Bolshaya Morskaya 47, St. Petersburg, Russia (from 1914 Petrograd)

1903

(September) With family to Paris and to Nice

1904

(early summer) Family travels to Paris and Beaulieu (stay at Hotel Bristol) and on to Abbazia (Opatja), Croatia, where they stay at Villa Neptune or Villa Apollo, owned or rented by Ivan de Peterson, a relative. Later that year they travel on to Wiesbaden, where they stay at Hotel Oranien

1905

(early) Return to St. Petersburg

(autumn and winter) Because of the rioting in St. Petersburg, the family remains at the estate of Vyra. Arrival of governess Cécile Miauton ("Mademoiselle")

1906-1907         

(automn) Family moves to a 1^st floor apartment at Sergievskaya Street 38 (today Chaikovskogo Prospect) near Taurid Garden for a year, to get away from Mariinskaya Square, the place of bloodshed during the 1905 uprising; the house (then dove-blue, today yellow) Nabokov later gave to the pretty young aunt who teaches Luzhin chess (in The Defense)

1907

(autumn) With family in a rented apartment in Biarritz   

1909

(two months in autumn) With family in a rented villa in Biarritz

1910

(August to January 1911) With family to Bad Kissingen, Germany, and then with tutor Filip Zelenski ("Lenski") for three months to Berlin, first at Hotel Adlon, Unter den Linden 1, then at a "pension moderne" on Privatstrasse (today Bissingzeile), a lane off Potsdamer Strasse near Potsdamer Brücke, to get his teeth fixed by the American "orthodontist" Dr. W. G. Law (remembered by Nabokov as "Lowen" or "Lowell") on In den Zelten 18a, Berlin-Tiergarten (today site of the Bundeskanzleramt)

1911

(August) Elena Nabokov and children stay with her sister-in-law Elizaveta Sayn-Wittgenstein at Kamenka, the Sayn-Wittgenstein estate in S.W. Russia (near Popelyukha, province of Podolsk)

1911-1917

Attends Tenishev (High) School on 33–35 Mokhovaya Street, St. Petersburg

1917

(November 15) To get away from revolutionary ongoings in St. Petersburg for a while, Vladimir and his brother Sergey leave the city for the Crimea, by train

(November 18) Arrival on the Crimea, stay at the estate of Countess Sofia Panin in Gaspra near the village of Koreis (5 miles from Yalta)

1918

(summer) Spends time at the nearby domain of Oleis with Lidiya Tokmakov

(late September) Move to the former imperial domain of Livadia at the outskirts of Yalta

1919

(April 15) The family leaves Sevastopol for Constantinople and then on to Piraeus, Greece, on the Greek vessel 'Na­dezhda' (Hope)

(May 18–23) On Cunard liner 'Pannonia' from Piraeus to Marseilles and by train on to Paris

(May 27) The whole family crosses from Le Havre to Southampton

(from June) Father rents apartment at 55 Stanhope Gardens, South Kensington, London

(from October 1) Enrollment at Trinity College, Cambridge; rooms at Great Court R6 (= staircase R, set 6)

1920

(from early August to September 5, 1921) c/o V. D. Nabokoff, Egerstrasse 1, Berlin-Grunewald    

1921

 (June 13) From Cambridge to Berlin, to join his parents

(September 5) V. D. Nabokoff and his family move to Sächsische Strasse 67, Berlin-Wilmersdorf

(October 7) Back to Cambridge, Trinity Lane

(December 8) With his Cambridge friend Robert de Calry to Switzerland (Champéry and St. Moritz) for an ice-skating and skiing holiday; return trip to Berlin via Lausanne where both of them go to see Cécile Miauton, Nabokov's former governess ("Mademoiselle")

1922

(January 17) Back to Cambridge for the Lent term

(March 18) Back to Berlin for the Easter vacation

(March 28) Assassination of Vladimir Dmitrievich Nabokov by two Russian monarchists (Peter Shabelsky-Bork and Sergey Taboritsky) in the Berlin Philharmonie, Bernburger Strasse 22/23

(March 30) Memorial service at the church of the Russian Embassy, Unter den Linden

(March 31) Memorial service at the chapel of the Russian Cemetery in Berlin-Tegel

(April 20) Back to Cambridge

(June 21) After final examinations (second-class honors), return from Cambridge to join his widowed mother at Sächsische Strasse 67, Berlin-Wilmersdorf     

1923

(April 4) Reading his work at Schubertsaal, Bülowstrasse, Berlin

(May 8) Meets Véra Evseevna Slonim at an emigré charity ball in Berlin-Halensee

(mid-May to late July) Works as a farm hand at the Domaine de Beaulieu (vinyards and orchards belonging to Bespalov and managed by Solomon Samoylovich Krym) near Soliès-Pont, Alpes Maritimes, France

(late July) In Marseille

(August 19) Back in Berlin, Sächsische Strasse 67

(October) Elena Nabokoff and her daughter Elena move to Prague, Smíchov district, on the west bank of the Vltava river, followed by her other daughter Olga

(December to January 27, 1924) Visiting his family in Prague, Smíchov district, writing much of the Tragedy of Mr. Morn

1924

(from January 31) Pension Helene Andersen, Lutherstrasse 21, third floor, Berlin-Charlottenburg

(from late August) Pension Elisabeth Schmidt, Trautenaustrasse 9, Berlin-Wilmersdorf

1925

(from April to late July) Luitpoldstrasse 13, Berlin-Schöneberg, 2 rooms, c/o canned goods merchant Erich Rölke

(April 15) Married to Véra Slonim, at the townhall of Berlin-Wilmersdorf, Brandenburgische Straße

(August 1 to c. August 15) With Véra to meet his family at Villa Kaura 60, Radošovica near Prague

(August 27 to c. September 4) Hiking tour of the Schwarzwald (Freiburg, Feldberg, St. Blasien, Säckingen, Wehr)

(September 4 to September 12) Constance, Pension Zeiss

(from September 30) Motzstrasse 31, Berlin-Schöneberg: 2 rooms, c/o Frau M. v. Lepel (a major's widow)

(from c. December 25 to January 3, 1926) Skiing with Sergey Kaplan in Krummhübel (Silesia), today Karpacz (Poland)

1926

(March 21) Publication of Mashenka

(from autumn) Passauer Strasse 12, Berlin-Charlottenburg: 2 rooms, c/o merchant Horst von Dallwitz

1928

(September/October) Publication of Korol, dama, valet

1929

(February 8 to June 24) In Southern France, first at the Hôtel Établissement Thermal in Le Boulou (Pyrénées Orientales), from April 24 at Saurat (Ariège)

(July) Nabokov and his wife spend the remainder of the summer (working on The Defense) in the postman's shack at the village of Colberg (today Kolberg), about 35 miles SE of Berlin, after they had acquired a tiny lot of land on a nearby lake (Ziest-See) where they hoped to build a sort of dacha. After some time, the land reverted to the seller for lack of payment

(from late August to early 1932) Luitpoldstrasse 27, Berlin-Schöneberg, 2 rooms (parlor and bedroom) in the "vast and gloomy" apartment of Oberstleutnant a. D. Albrecht v. Bardeleben

(December 15) Publication of Vozvrashchenie Chorba

1930

(c. May 10 to May 24) Visiting his mother in Prague, 64-I Palackeho Třida, Karlin

(September) Publication of Zashchita Luzhina

1932

(from early) Westfälische Strasse 29, Berlin-Wilmersdorf, 1 room, c/o Cohn family

(April 3 to April 20) Visiting his mother in Prague, 64-I Palackeho Třida, Karlin

(from July 31 to January 18, 1937) Nestorstrasse 22, 3rd floor, left, Berlin-Wilmersdorf, 2 rooms, c/o Véra Nabokov's (Slonim) cousin Anna Feigin

(early in October to October 21) Vacationing with Véra in Kolbsheim, Alsace, 8 miles west of Strasbourg, in a cottage where his cousin Nicolas Nabokov and his wife Nathalie were spending their holiday

(October 21 to November 13) Lodging with his cousin Nicolas Nabokov, 9 rue Jacques-Mawas, Paris 15e

(November 6) Publication of Podvig

(November 13–26) Still in Paris, as a houseguest of Ilya Fondaminsky, 1 rue Chernoviz, Passy

(November 26–29) Readings in Antwerp and Brussels, Belgium

(November 30) Back in Berlin

1933

(December) Publication of Kamera obskura

1934

(May 10) Son Dmitri Nabokov born in private clinic Dr. Friedrich Grambow, Berchtesgadener Straße 25, Berlin-Schöneberg

1936

(mid-January) leaves for a lecture tour to Belgium (Brussels, Antwerp) and France (Paris)

(from January 28) c/o Ilya Fondaminsky, 130 Avenue de Versailles, Paris 16^e

(February 20) Publication of Otchaianie

(February 29) Back in Berlin, Nestorstraße 22

1937

(January 18) Leaves for another lecture tour to Brussels, Paris, London and again Paris, with the intent not to come back to Germany

(early March to May 20) Paris, c/o Ilya Fondaminsky, 130 avenue de Versailles

(May 6) Véra and Dmitri leave Berlin for Prague

(May 20) Travels from Paris to Czechoslovakia by way of Switzerland and Austria (in order to avoid Germany) to meet Véra and Dmitri in Prague where he arrives on May 22, staying at his mother's flat, Koulova 6, Dejvice

(end of May to June 18) With Véra and Dmitri at Hotel Egerländer, Franzensbad

(June 18 to June 23) In Prague again, seeing his mother for the last time, Koulova 6, Dejvice

(June 23 to June 29) With Véra and Dmitri at Villa Busch, Marienbad

(June 30 to July 7) Paris, c/o Ilya Fondaminsky, 130 avenue de Versailles

(July 8 to fall) Hôtel des Alpes, rue St. Dizier and rue Georges Clemenceau, Cannes

(from fall) 81 rue Georges Clemenceau, Cannes, 2 room apartment; then on to Menton, Pension Les Hespérides

1938

(July) Hôtel de la Poste, Moulinet, Alpes Maritimes

(from late August) Villa Les Cyprès, 18 Chemin de l'Ermitage, Cap d'Antibes

(October 2) Publication of Sogliadatai

(middle of October) From Cap d'Antibes to the farmhouse of Mikhail and Elizaveta Kaminka at L'Honor de Cas near Montauban

(from late October) 8 rue de Saigon, Paris 16e, 1 room apartment

(November 17) Publication of Proglashenie na kazn'        

1939

(from mid-February) Hôtel Royal Versailles, 31 rue Le Marois, Paris 16e

(April 1 to last week) In London, in search of employment, staying with Evgeny Sablins

(from late April) 59 rue Boileau, Paris 16e, dingy and empty 2 room apartment

(May 2) Elena Ivanovna Nabokov dies in Prague

(May 31–June 14) In London, in search of employment, staying with Vera Haskell

(summer to September 2) Pension Rodnoy, Fréjus, on the French Riviera

(from September 2) Back in Paris, 59 rue Boileau

1940

(c. May 19) On CGT liner 'Champlain' from St. Nazaire to New York

(May 28) Arrival in New York; several days c/o Nathalie Nabokov, former wife of Nicolas Nabokov, 32 East 61st Street

(from June 10) c/o Lehovich, 1326 Madison Avenue

(from July 15) At country home of Harvard professor Mikhail Karpovich near West Wardsboro, Vermont

(mid-September) 35 West 87th Street, New York, 2 rooms, "a dreadful little flat" (Véra)

1941

(May 26) Begin of first trip to the West, by car, make Pontiac (dubbed Pon'ka, pony), owned and driven by a helpful New York Russian pupil and acquaintance, Dorothy Leuthold. First day from New York City to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, Motor Court Lee-Mead

(May 27) To Luray, Virginia, Parkhurst Inn & Cottages

(May 28) To Bristol, Virginia, Motel General Shelby

(May 29) To the Smokie Mountains and Belva, Tennessee, Maple Sh    ade Cottages

(May 30) To Crossville, Tennessee, Cumberland Motor Court

(May 31) To Jackson, Tennessee, George Anna Hotel

(June 1) To Hot Springs, Arkansas, Wonderland Motor Courts

(June 2) To Dallas, Texas, Grande Tourist Lodge

(June 3) To Lubbock, Texas, Motor Hotel

(June 4) To Santa Fé, New Mexico, El Rey Courts

(June 6) To Holbrook, Arizona, Forest Court

(June 7) To the Grand Canyon, Arizona, South Rim, Bright Angel Lodge

(June 9) To Las Vegas, Nevada

(June 10) To San Bernardino, California

(June 11) To Santa Monica, California (Mission Court?)

(June 13) To Fresno, California

(June 14) Arrival in Palo Alto, California; stay at a rented home on 230 Sequoia Avenue

(first week of September) Ten days driving around Yosemite National Park

(September 11) By train back to Wellesley, Massachusetts, 19 Appleby Road

(December 6) Publication of The Real Life of Sebastian Knight

1942

(summer) At country home of Harvard professor Mikhail Karpovich near West Wardsboro, Vermont

(from September 1) 8 Craigie Circle, Suite 35, Cambridge, Massachusetts

1943

(June 22) By train from Chicago to Salt Lake City, Utah; staying at the Alta Lodge owned by publisher James Laughlin, Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah     

1945

(from summer) Wellesley, Massachu­setts, 9 Abbott Street

1946

(c. June 20) By train and bus to New Hampshire where they spend the summer "on the shores of a dismal lake [Newfound Lake] at a horrible place called Don Jerry Lodge"

(from August 18) 6 Cross Street, Wellesley, Massachusetts

1947

(June 12) Publication of Bend Sinister

(mid-June to September) By train from Wellesley; massachusetts, to Estes Park, Colorado; staying at Columbine Lodge above Estes Park, collecting butterflies near Longs Peak (e.g., Boloria freija), as described at the end of Chapter 6 of Speak, Memory

1948

(from July 1) 927 E. State Street, Ithaca, New York (house of Batz Hansteen?); office 278 Goldwin Smith Hall, Cornell University; buys a 1940 Plymouth 4 door sedan, driven by Véra

(from September 1) 802 East Seneca Street, Ithaca, New York (house of Mrs. Lotte Orndorff)

1949

(June 22 to July 16) First butterfly tour to the West with his own car (a second-hand black 1946 Oldsmobile, always driven by Véra), driving from Ithaca along a route below the Great Lakes and across Iowa and Nebraska (as Humbert and Lolita do on their second trip) and arriving on July 3 in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he attends a writers' conference, staying at Sorority House Alpha Delta Phi(July 16)

Driving from Salt Lake City to Jackson Hole, Wyoming, staying at Battle Mountain Ranch on Hoback River and at Teton Pass Ranch in Wilson, Wyoming

(end of August) Driving back from the Grand Tetons to Ithaca, New York, via Minnesota, north of the Great Lakes and southern Ontario

(September 4) Back in Ithaca

1950

(June) Hotel The Vendome, Commonwealth Avenue and Dartmouth Street, Boston, Massachusetts. On June 1, Dr. Favre in Boston extracts all his teeth

1951

(February 14) Publication of Conclusive Evidence

(from spring) 623 Highland Road, Cayuga Heights, New York (house of Professor H.S. Sach)

(late June) Second trip in his 1946 Oldsmobile to the West, amassing notes for Lolita

(June 30) Saint Francis, Kansas (on US 36)

(July 3 to 29) Telluride, Colorado (two nights at Skyline Ranch, then at Valley View Court

(July 15) Hiking up Tomboy Road to Social Tunnel in search of a certain lycaenid butterfly (the female of Lycaeides idas sublivens)

(early August) Driving from Telluride to Jenny Lake, Wyoming, and on to Duck Ranch N of West Yellowstone, Montana

(late August) Driving back to Ithaca

1952

(from February 1 to June 20, as a visiting professor at Harvard) 9 Maynard Place (at the house of writer May Sarton), Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Hotel The Vendome, Boston, Massachusetts

(April 26) First complete publication of Dar, in Russian

(June 20) Departure for another trip to the West in his Oldsmobile, writing Lolita, the destination being the Continental Divide in Wyoming (for entomological reasons)

(end of June) Laramie, Wyoming, Lazy U Motel

(July 4) Through Medicine Bow National Forest to Riverside, Wyoming, where too noisy celebrations are underway; soon leaving for Dubois, Wyoming, Rock Butte Court

(early August) Afton, Wyoming, Corral Log Cabins

(September 1) Back in Ithaca. New address 106 Hampton Road, Cayuga Hights, New York (house of A.F. Wiegant)

1953

(from February 1) 35 Brewster Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts

(from mid-February) Ambassador Hotel (now Coolidge Hall), 1737 Cambridge Street, Suite 617, Cambridge

(April 7) Departure for another trip west with his Oldsmobile, working on the final draft of Lolita

Passing Birmingham, Alabama

(c. April 20) Arriving at a rented ranch in Portal, Arizona, hunting for butterflies in the Chiricahua Mountains

(June 1) On a account of Véra's dislike for rattlesnakes, they leave for Oregon

(June, July and August) 163 Mead Street, Ashland, Oregon, at the house of Dr. Arthur Tailor

(September 1) Leaving for Ithaca, New York, via Jenny Lake and the Tetons

1954

(from beginning of spring term) 101 Irving Place, Ithaca, New York (Cornell University faculty home)

(June 18) Leaving for Cleveland, Ohio, and Taos, New Mexico, where they spend July and August at a rented house

(from September 1) 700 Stewart Avenue, Ithaca, New York (Belleayre Apartments, #30, appartment of Professor James L. Gregg)

1955

(from mid-July) 808 Hanshaw Road, Cayuga Heights, New York (house of Professor Fisher)

(September 15) Publication of Lolita by Olympia Press, Paris

1956

(from February) 'Continental Hotel Apartments', no.10, 16 Chauncy Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts

(spring) Motoring 10,000 miles in their "good old frog-green Buick" to Utah (a ranchito at Mt. Carmel), Arizona and Montana

(from July 1) 425 Hanshaw Road, Cayuga Heights, New York

1957

(from February 3) 880 Highland Road, Cayuga Heights, New York (house of L. Sharp)

(March 7) Publication of Pnin

1958

(from February 23?) 404 Highland Road, Cayuga Heights, New York

(July 21) First American edition of Lolita, by G.P. Putnam's Sons

(September 18) Publication of Nabokov's Dozen

1959

(February 24) Leaving Ithaca, by car via Schenectady to New York City

(February 26–April 18) Hotel Windermere, 666 West End Avenue, New York

(April 18) By car to Arizona, via Tennessee (Great Smokies), Alabama and Big Bend, Texas

(early summer) At summer cabins resort Forest Houses between Flagstaff and Sedona, Arizona, hunting butterflies in Oak Creek Canyon; visit by journalist/writer Robert H. Boyle who accompanies him on an unsuccessful day hunt

(July 20) From Sedona to Los Angeles, California

(July 20–end of July) The Beverly Hills Hotel, 9641 Sunset Boulevard, Beverly Hills, California

(end of July–mid August) Brockway Hotel on North Lake Tahoe, California

(early September) Park Crescent Hotel, 87^th and Riverside Drive, New York City

(September 29–October 5) On the CGT liner 'Liberté' from New York City to Le Havre, travelling on by train to Geneva (Hotel Beau Rivage) right away as they were no suitable accomodations to be found in Paris

(mid November) Hotel Excelsior, Taormina, Sicily, a place the Nabokovs disliked (for the first time envisaging how to turn Lolita into a screenplay)

(November 27) From Sicily to Genoa, Colombia Excelsior Hotel

(December 9) To Lugano, Grand Hotel, room 317–318

(December 13) By taxi to Milano, Hotel Principe e Savoia

(December 25) By car to San Remo, Hotel Excelsior-Bellevue

1960

(early January to February) To Hôtel Astoria, avenue Carnot, Menton

(February 18) By train from Menton to Le Havre

(February 19) On the 'SS United States' (United States Lines) from Le Havre to New York

(February 27) By train via Chicago to Los Angeles

(March 1 to 10) In a cottage of the Beverly Hills Hotel on Sunset Boulevard

(March 10 to October 12) 2088 Mandeville Canyon Road, Los Angeles, California, writing the screenplay for Stanley Kubrick's Lolita

(late June/early July) Glacier Lodge, Inyo County, California

(October 12–15) By train via Chicago to New York

(October 15–November 2) Hotel Hampshire House (room 503), New York

(November 2–7) On the Cunard liner 'Queen Elizabeth' from New York to Cherbourg

(November 7-9) via Paris to Milano, Hotel Principe e Savoia

(November 26) to Nice, Hotel Negresco, 37, promenade des Anglais (looking for an appartment and writing the beginning of Shade's poem in Pale Fire)

(early December) 57, promenade des Anglais (appartement no. 3), Nice (Alpes Maritimes)

1961

(April 26) By car to Reggio Emilia (for Dmitri's operatic debut in La Bohème, along with Luciano Pavarotti)

(May 8) By car to Stresa

(early June) To Milano for a concert by Dmitri

(mid June) By car via Martigny to Champex (Vaud)

(June 15 to August 15) Champex-Lac (Valais), Grand Hôtel Alpes et Lac (working on Pale Fire, hunting butterflies at Verbier, Crans, Simplon and Saas-Fee)

(end July to August 7) To Simplon Kulm (Vaud), Hotel Bellevue

(August 7) To Montreux (Vaud), Hotel Belmont

(September 20) By car to Milan (to hear Dmitri sing at the Scala)

(early October to their death in 1977 and 1991) In a furnished apartment of the Hôtel Montreux Palace, Montreux (Vaud), rooms 35–38

1962

(April 25) Publication of Pale Fire

(May 31 to June 5) On Cunard liner 'Queen Elizabeth' from Cherbourg to New York for the gala premiere of Kubrick's Lolita on June 13

(June 5–20) Staying at St. Regis Hotel, Fifth Avenue, New York

(June 20) On the 'Queen Elizabeth' back from New York to France

(June 26) Back at his hotel rooms in Montreux

(July 1) To Saas Fee (Valais) and next day on to Zermatt (Valais), Hotel Mt. Cervin

1963

(May 27) By car (Peugeot) to Loèche-les-Bains (Leukerbad), Valais, Hotel Bristol

(mid-July) By car to Les Diablerets, Grand Hotel

(August 19) By car back to Montreux

1964

(March 17) Leaving Montreux and crossing the Atlantic on the 'SS United States' for the launching of 'Pushkin Eugene Onegin'

(end of March) At Hampshire House in New York City, then by train to Ithaca, New York

(April 2) Flying back to New York City

(April 9) To Cambridge, Massachusetts

(April 10) Last public reading at Sanders Hall, Harvard University

(mid April) Back to New York City

(April 21) Bollingen Press reception in honor of 'Pushkin Eugene Onegin'

(April 23) On 'SS United States' back to Europe

(June 22) Publication of 'Pushkin Eugene Onegin'

1965

(late April) Grand Hotel, Gardone Riviera (Brescia, Lombardy) on Lake Garda (working on a novel-essay called The Texture of Time that later was to become Ada)

(July) Hotel Suvretta House, St. Moritz (Grisons)

(August 10) Back at his hotel rooms in Montreux

1966

(mid April) Leaving for Italy by car ("We are trying to go into hiding"), looking for quiet and visiting art museums in search of painted butterflies and art that could go into his work-in-progress. The first stop is Monza where Dmitri is living.

(April) Bologna Art Gallery (Musei Civici d'Arte Antica?)

(April/May, two weeks) Florence, visiting more than a dozen galleries

(early May) Two days in Pompeii, trying in vain to see the "indecent" frescoes

(from May 7) Albergo Cappucino Convento, Amalfi (Salerno)

(c. May 20) Four days in Naples, visiting e.a. the Museo Archeologico Nazionale where they see the fresco Flora from Stabiae but where the Gabinetto Segreto is still inaccessible

(last week of May to end of June) Butterfly hunts in Tuscany, staying at the Grand Hotel Excelsior, Chianciano Terme (Siena), Piazza Italia. On their way north they stop for a day in Parma.

(July) Ponte di Legno (Brescia), Grand Hotel Paradiso (?)

(mid August) Stopover in Bad Tarasp (Grisons), Grand Hotel and Kurhaus

(early September) Back in Montreux

1967

(January 9) Publication of revised version of Speak, Memory

(April 4 to June 13) Albergo Cenobio dei Dogi, Camogli (Genoa)

(July): Cita Grand Hotel, Limone Piemonte (Alpes-Maritimes)

1968

(April 17, for a week) Cernobbio on Lake Como (Como, Lombardy)

(from May 10 to early July) Hôtel des Salines, Bex-les-Bains (Vaud)

(from early July to early August) Parc Hotel, Verbier (Valais)

1969

(April 2) Publication of Ada or Ardour: A Family Chronicle

(June 20) To Lugano (Ticino), Hotel Splendide Royal

(July) In a rented house at Cureglia near Lugano (Ticino)

(first three weeks of August) In Adelboden (Bern)

(August 22) Back to Montreux

1970

(March 19) To Rome

(early April) By train and ferry to Taormina (Sicily)

(mid-May) Back to Montreux

(last week of June) By car to Saas Fee (Valais), Grand Hotel

(late July) Back to Montreux

1971

(March 24) Flying (for the first time in life) from Geneva to Lisbon, Portugal; staying at the Hotel Ritz until March 30

(March 30 to April 14) To Praia de Rocha, Algarve Hotel (the weather too cold and windy for butterfly hunting)

(end of April) Flying back to Montreux earlier than had been planned

(May) Flying to Nice and on to Tourtour near Draguignan (Var), Hôtel des Masques

(August) In a chalet between Gstaad and Saanen (Bern), Résidence Wyssmüllerei

1972

(April) By train to Amélie-les-Bains (Pyremées Orientales) for a short rest

(June 19 for a month) Lenzerheide (Grisons)

(August) Résidence Wyssmüllerei near Gstaad (Bern)

(October 13) Publication of Transparent Things

1973

(April 10) Publication of A Russian Beauty

Publication of Strong Opinions

(early June) By taxi Cervia, south of Ravenna, on Adriatic Coast, staying three weeks

(late June to August 3) Cortina d'Ampezzo

1974

(February 25) Publication of Lolita: A Screenplay

(July) Zermatt (Valais), Hotel Mt. Cervin

(August 27) Publication of Look at the Harlequins!

1975

(January 27) Publication of Tyrants Destroyed

(end of May) To Paris for live tv interview with Bernard Pivot (day of broadcast May 30)

(June 18) To Davos (Grisons), for six weeks of rest and butterfly hunting

(July 13) Slips on a steep slope during one of his butterfly hikes, tumbling 150 feet; is carried down on a stretcher after two and a half hours; has to rest in bed for some days. The accident marks the begin of his physical decline. Shortly after return to Montreux

(early September) To Montreux Hospital for a urographic examination; a tumor on the prostate is diagnosed

(October 15) To the Clinique de Montchoisi in Lausanne, for an operation of the tumor that the doctors say was small and benign. Returns home after two weeks, but with an infection of sorts (hospital-induced?) and insomnia worse than ever

1976

(March 9) Publication of Details of a Sunset

(April 24) Nocturnal panic attack

(May 1?) After a fall in his bedroom he has a concussion at the back of his head and is taken by ambulance to the CHUV (Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois) in Lausanne where they keep him for ten days

(June 17) Again to the Clinique de Montchoisi, Lausanne, because of persistent temperatures; partly semi-conscious. Diagnosis of too low sodium and potassium levels and an infection of the urinary tract

(July 9) Transferred to the Nestlé Hospital within the CHUV complex

(September 7) Discharge from the Nestlé Hospital

(September) Two weeks of convalescence at the Valmont Clinic in Glion (Vaud), just above Montreux

(September 21) Return home

1977

(March 19) By ambulance back to the Nestlé Hospital in Lausanne with a high fever; both he and his wife have an influenza, his developing into bronchial pneumonia

(May 7) Discharge and return home, but still feverish

(June 5) Back to the CHUV in Lausanne, getting ever weaker, temperature rising, breathing harder, emitting pus

(June 30) Moved to intensive care within the CHUV

(July 2, 6:50 pm) Dies from congestive bronchitis

(July 7) Nabokov's body cremated in Vevey

(July 8) Nabokov's ashes interred in the cemetery of Clarens between Vevey and Montreux

1991

(April 6) Véra Nabokov taken to the hospital in Vevey because of respiratory trouble

(April 7) Véra Nabokov dies at the Vevey hospital

Elena Nabokova's Prague addresses (courtesy of Brian Boyd, May 19, 1999)

 1923      

Smíchov district 

 1925      

(31 August) Villa Kaura, 60, Radošovica u Prahi

(from September) to April 1934: 64-I Palackeho Třida, Karlin, Praha     

 1934      

(May-September at least) Dejvice, Sadova 1424, Praha

(December to 1935 and later) Koulova 6, Dejvice, Praha 

 1935      

Ruska prazdninova kolonie, Zànuk Bzi, P/P Bzi

Further addresses

Weil, Gans & Dieckmann (Anwaltskanzlei), Berlin W 62, Landgrafenstraße 1 (the law firm where Véra worked, figuring in The Gift)

Rul – Russische Demokratische Zeitung, Ullsteinhaus, Berlin SW 68, Kochstraße 22. From 1924: Zimmerstrasse 7-8