Among the most consistently brilliant novelists of the 20th century, Vladimir Nabokov was also a perceptive critic and an entertaining conversationalist. Collecting a treasure trove of the Russian-American writer's nonfiction, this chronological anthology ranges from a 1921 essay about Cambridge to two final interviews in 1977. Among the cultural figures discussed here are Marcel Proust, Alexander Pushkin, Thomas Mann, Sergei Diaghilev, and Leonardo da Vinci. Whether his subject is the sport of boxing or the privileges of democracy, Nabokov's reviews and commentary reveal his individuality, his keen wit, and his alertness to the details of life.