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It would be good to have a short section on these topics. Although he was always adamant that his work was unique, totally orginal etc. strong claims can be made regarding the influence of certain writers. These include, I believe: Flaubert, Joyce and Kafka, with the last two having major stylistic influence on, in my view, Bend Sinister and Lolita. More obvious, perhaps, are the writers that he has influenced. These include, to my limited knowledge: John Updike, Martin Amis, John Banville, Zadie Smith (perhaps; so far) and undoubtedly others. Someone better informed than I needs to come along and sprinkle a few concise, accurate comments into this solid article.

Just a note, that the bibliography is missing The Enchanter, and The Original of Laura (unpublished). There could be more, that's just from memory and a quick scan. Sorry I'm not just fixing it myself, very tired.

This entry should be disambiguated as there are at least two famous persons of that name (Vladimir Vladimirovitch Nabokov the author, and his father Vladimir Dmitrievich Nabokov, the politician). Unfortunately I am not sure how to do it without messing up things/links. Would anybody please help?

A reasonable way to do it would be to make Nabokov a disambiguation page with links to Vladimir V. Nabokov and Vladimir D. Nabokov as separate entries, then remove the redirect from Nabokov and make the existing Vladimir Nabokov link a redirect to the appropriate page... I'll try it and accept all the blame (and fame).

A disambiguation page would inconvenience 99% of the people who got to it. Why not just add a note and a link at the bottom of this article about the world famous author, critic, and lepidopterist that will send the reader to an article about his less well known father? Indeed, why not write an article about his father first? And then just link it from the text of this article. A disambiguation page is overkill. Ortolan88

I don't totally agree but being totally new to Wikipedia I will, of course, accept your advice and write something along these lines the next days.
And, what's more, I don't know how to handle russian names. A russian name should properly have a patronym in it e.g. "Vladimir Nabokov" is not quite correct without the "Vladimirovich" (or whatever). Is there a policy, rule etc. for this? Kosebamse

For authors at least, there is a clear optimum solution: Use the name under which they published, verbatim - even if it's a pseudonym (e.g. Mark Twain.) Alternate/expanded full names should be mentioned after the common name in the first paragraph of the article. Mkweise 21:47 Jan 26, 2003 (UTC)

I personally agree, but in fact the convention is to use the best-known name for the article title Mark Twain, but to start the article with the real name and then give the pseudonym. Odd, I think, but I just added a rule noting this to the Wikipedia:Manual of Style yesterday, since that is what has traditionally been done since well before I got here. It's usually better to stay with what exists that to do something that requires a lot of changes. Please join in the discussion at the Manual of Style talk page, though. I'm glad there's another person interested. There are a few of us, but always room for one more. Ortolan88

Well, it's a question of choosing between absolutism and relativism :=). In this case, I think relativism (pardon the pun) wins the day. No one who has heard of the father will not have heard of the son; no one who not heard of the father will be looking for his page (still nonexistent). We can always add a disambiguation page later if anyone complains. (In that case, I think your suggestion of making it Nabokov is correct.) In the meantime, the policy on foreign names is in Wikipedia:Naming conventions (anglicization) and there's also a current discussion at Wikipedia_talk:Manual of Style. And, welcome to the Wikipedia. You'll find lots of discussions like this all the time. Your knowledge and interest will be welcome (as will your politeness). Ortolan88

I know that Nabokov used the anagram Vivian Darkbloom somewhere, but I have no idea where. It sounds like a really nifty factoid, but I don't know anything else about it. Can someone confirm/deny this and, if it's for real, include it in the article? Thanks! grendel|khan 04:56, 2004 Jul 6 (UTC)

Vivian Darkbloom is a character in Lolita. And yes, her name is an anagram for Vladimir Nabokov. I think I heard she pops up in another work as well (possibly Ada).Bds yahoo 04:21, 8 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Yeah, Vivian Darkbloom appears as the author of the appendix to Ada (in the versions of the novel that include it). Actually he's used plenty of different anagrams for his name, like Baron Klim Avidov (Ada), Adam von Librikov (Transparent Things), and others. --Shibboleth 01:10, 12 Jul 2004 (UTC)

If you or someone else has a full reckoning of such anagrams, it would make an interesting addition to the article. (I know nothing other than what I wrote in the above comment, along with the name 'Vivian Bloodmark'.) grendel|khan 08:52, 2004 Nov 20 (UTC)

Don't forget the "Dutch painter" van Bock from Strong Opinions. —Anville 14:45, 20 Nov 2004 (UTC)

Hmm...shouldn't we have a disambiguation notice for his pops up top? Something like This article is about the author Vladimir Nabokov. For his father, the politician, see Vladimir Dmitrievich Nabokov. ? john k 12:59, 8 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Done. grendel|khan 08:52, 2004 Nov 20 (UTC)

Anyone in the US willing to contact Nikki Smith at Smith-Skolnik Literary Management to see wheter they could release a "low-res photo for web use" under GFDL or in the public domain, so we can improve the article? This is the right place to look, but they don't seem to have an email address. There are several snail mail addresses on the web and I have been given another one (which is not to be found on the web)... If someone wants to write a letter, leave me a note. --Glimz 18:07, Sep 10, 2004 (UTC)

Using Michael Juliar's Vladimir Nabokov: A Descriptive Bibliography and his 1991 "Updates" to this, I've added more books. Note that the contents of the two "Fialta" books really are different.

http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/works.htm gives a very simplified list of works. Juliar's 1991 "Updates" list(s) three posthumous (and perhaps unauthorized) Soviet books (A58, A60 and A61) that each contain material not previously published in book form. These deserve to be added to the article, but I don't have enough energy. Moreover, I'm not confident about inputting Cyrillic, and — contravening the spirit of Wikipedia, I know — I'm not going to input stuff that I presume (or merely hope) will be checked by others. Also, I think I remember reading that the more or less authorized Soviet/Russian publications continued after 1991. -- Hoary 11:32, 2005 Mar 15 (UTC)

Hoary: What's up with that copyright warning? Are you a lawyer entitled to decide what is a violation and what is not? If you feel you are, why link to that site at all? Just FYU, the Moshkow site exists since 1994 and is the most respected Russian online library. Is there a lawsuit related to Nabokov's material on that site? If there's none, your "warning" is just your personal opinion. Wikipedia is not a place for opinions, let alone legal opinions. Trapolator 04:43, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)

The article claims Nabokov "in the short story 'The Admiralty Spire' deplores the posturing, snobbery, antisemitism, and cutesiness he considered characteristic of Russian women authors".

The short story (spoilers alert!) is written as a letter to a novelist, in whose novel "The Admiralty Spire" the narrator recognizes himself and his romantic relationship as a young man sixteen years ago. The narrator claims that the novel, despite the author's male pen name, is actually written by a woman. He says the writing style makes it obvious, citing a few examples. He proceeds to compare episodes from the novel with his own recounting of the events, pointing out inconsistencies and taking occasional jabs at the novel's cliched and banal prose (very unfavorably contrasted with his own writing). The story concludes with him assuming that the novel is written, in fact, by his former love interest.

Nowhere in the story Nabokov makes this broad generalized statement about Russian women authors. He does point out a few stylistic features he sees as unique to mediocre women authors, making it abundantly clear that the addressee is one of them. Knowing Nabokov, he would say much the same things about mediocre male writers, only with a different set of cliches. He never speaks of anything "characteristic of Russian women authors". Also, there is no word about their purported snobbery and antisemitism. ....added on 25 January 2018 by ScalarField

The article states he took his second test after the death of his father. His father and family moved to Berlin in 1920 and then Nabokov joined them after his studies. His mother and sister moved to Prague shortly after his father’s death.

So I am confused as to his father dying in March 1922, him completing his studies, moving to Berlin and then immediately moving to Prague in what sounds like a very short amount of time? This might be the case, but the article makes it sound like he moved to Berlin while his father was still alive.