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How was Mary based on Vladimir Nabokov’s life?
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Vladimir Nabokov
Vladimir Nabokov.
Mary (originally published in Russian as Mashenka in 1926) is an avowedly autobiographical novel. It draws heavily upon Vladimir Nabokov’s personal history, specifically incorporating descriptions of his first serious romance as well as details regarding the Nabokov family estate. These same elements of his early life are also described in his autobiography, Speak, Memory.1