The Unreal Life of Sergey Nabokov: A Novel

Paul Russell

Nov 2011 · Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

In his novel based on the extraordinary life of the brother of Vladimir Nabokov, Paul Russell re-creates the rich and changing world in which Sergey, his family and friends lived; from wealth and position in pre-revolutionary Russia to the halls of Cambridge University and the Parisian salon of Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas. But it is the honesty and vulnerability of Sergey, our young gay narrator, that hook the reader: his stuttering childhood in the shadow of his brilliant brother, his opium-fueled evenings with Cocteau, his troubled love life on the margins of the Ballets Russes and its legendary cast, and his isolation in war-torn Berlin.

A meticulously researched novel, featuring an extraordinary cast of characters (including Picasso, Diaghilev, Stravinsky, Magnus Hirschfield, and of course the master himself, Vladimir Nabokov), this is ultimately the story of a beautiful and vulnerable boy growing into an enlightened and courageous man.

Ratings and reviews

It was about Sergey's life, about how different he was as a child, how left out and unsupported that he felt by family and others, and about his life and friends living as a gay person. Who he loved and the price he ultimately paid for living his lifestyle. He was not a hero and did not seem to make any known, positive contribution to society. He just lived. It is unique that the author of this book would write about the intimate thoughts and feelings of someone that would otherwise be an unknown.

About the author

Paul Russell is the accomplished author of various works of both fiction and non-fiction, including several award-winning novels, anthologies, poems, short stories, essays, and book reviews. He attended Oberlin College and later studied at Cornell University, where he earned an M.F.A. in Creative Writing and a Ph.D. in English. Russell has taught English at Vassar College and the University of Exeter, and is a Professor of English at Vassar College. He lives in upstate New York.