Born in Berlin, he was the only child of Russian parents: author Vladimir Nabokov and his wife Véra; they emigrated to the United States from France in 1940.
[3] Subsequently, Nabokov was raised in the Boston area during the years that his father both taught at Wellesley College and served as curator of lepidoptery at Harvard University's Museum of Comparative Zoology.
Although he scored high on the LSAT and was accepted to Harvard Law School (while still an undergraduate), Nabokov declined admission because he was searching for a vocation.
[4] Nabokov translated many of his father's works, including novels, stories, plays, poems, lectures, and letters, into several languages.
[7] Among the highlights from his operatic career are performances at the Gran Teatre del Liceu with the soprano Montserrat Caballé and the tenor Giacomo Aragall.
[9] The cast also included Maria Luisa Geisberger, Ben Salvador, Alex Morrison, Karina Kar, Cristina Gaioni, and Otto Tinard.
In Switzerland in 1980, Nabokov, also a semi-professional racecar driver, was driving a competition-model Ferrari 308 GTB when he crashed on the A9 motorway near Chexbres.
Nabokov has said that he temporarily died: "[I am] enticed by a bright light at the far end of the classic tunnel, but restrain myself at the last instant when I think of those who care for me and of important things I must still do.