Revisiting Vladimir Nabokov’s ‘Speak Memory’ During the Pandemic

At the Guardian, Ryan Chapman recounts how Vladimir Nabokov’s Speak, Memory resonated with him during the pandemic and helped him navigate our changed reality. “My listlessness ended after I pulled Vladimir Nabokov’s autobiography Speak, Memory from my bookshelf,” Chapman writes, “more or less at random. I first read it 10 years ago and quickly saw the wisdom in the author’s oft-quoted line, ‘One cannot read a book: one can only reread it.’ Nabokov’s remembrances granted reprieve from the new abnormal and—crucially—guidance on how to navigate it.”