Nabokov wrote the version of his memoirs between 1943 and 1951 in the United States. They cover the years from 1899 to 1940, including his childhood in Russia and his years in exile in Europe. He titled it "Conclusive Evidence" ("...conclusive evidence that I really existed..."). In 1964, a second, significantly expanded version was published in the USA, which was released in Germany in 1984 under the title "Speak, Memory, Speak." It was not Nabokov's intention to write a chronological account of his memories. "I confess that I do not believe in time," he once said. He was interested in "tracing the thematic patterns throughout life." Thus, while the fifteen chapters recount the early years of childhood chronologically, they sometimes leap forward: the memory moves from the forests around Wyra, the family's estate, across the French...