This volume is the first to anchor Nabokov's work within the historical, intellectual, cultural and political contexts of his time.

Introduction: contextualizing Nabokov David M. Bethea and Siggy Frank; Part I. Identity: 1. Nabokov: a life in contexts I: Russia and emigration Brian Boyd; 2. Nabokov: a life in contexts II: beyond the emigration Brian Boyd; 3. Childhood Barbara Wyllie; 4. Women Lara Delage-Toriel; 5. Friends and foes Julian W. Connolly; 6. Academia Susan Elizabeth Sweeney; 7. Authorial persona Maria Malikova; Part II. Places: 8. St Petersburg Gennady Barabtarlo; 9. Cambridge Beci Carver; 10. Berlin Stanislav Shvabrin; 11. Paris John Burt Foster, Jr; 12. East to West Coast Monica Manolescu; 13. Switzerland East to West Coast Monica Manolescu; Part III. Literature and Arts: 14. The Russian literary canon Alexander Dolinin; 15. The Western literary canon Michael Wood; 16. Publishing: Russian Émigré literature Siggy Frank; 17. Publishing: American literature Duncan White; 18. Detective fiction Michal Oklot and Matthew Walker; 19. Samizdat and Tamizdat Ann Komaromi; 20. Nabokov's visual imagination Marijeta Bozovic; 21. Popular culture Nassim Winnie Balestrini; Part IV. Ideas and Cultures: 22. Science Stephen H. Blackwell; 23. Darwinism David M. Bethea; 24. Psychoanalysis Michal Oklot and Matthew Walker; 25. Faith Sergei Davydov; 26. Jewishness as literary device in Nabokov's fiction Leonid Livak; 27. Liberalism Dana Dragunoiu; 28. Totalitarianism Olga Voronina; 29. The Cold War Will Norman; 30. The long 1950s Andrea Carosso; 31. Transnationalism Rachel Trousdale; Further reading.