Vladimir Nabokov’s Speak, Memoryis one of the most critically acclaimed memoirs of the twentieth century. In this classic account of his life, Nabokov writes about his idyllic Russian childhood in a aristocratic family, the 1917 Bolshevik revolution that led to his exile from Russia, and the path that would eventually lead him to live in the United States.

In the latest volume in Ig’s acclaimed Bookmarked series, celebrated author and critic Sven Birkerts writes about how Speak, Memory not only intersects with various central life-concerns (exile, serendipity and coincidence, childhood, literary redemption), but is also vital to understanding the workings of memory in literature.