Proustian Nabokov

"Speak, Memory", Nabokov's delicious memoir of his cosseted childhood in pre-revolutionary Russia, is often strongly reminiscent of Proust: the voluptuous style, the tender evocation of minute details, the precise, tactile and sensuous descriptions, even some episodes - for example, his train of thought as he waits for his mother's good night kiss. And how this sophisticated, refined world collapsed almost overnight... There are always barbarians at the gate.