(FORTUNE Magazine) – On the centennial of the birth of Vladimir Nabokov, lepidopterist, chess enthusiast, and possibly the greatest Russian and American novelist of the 20th century, here are a few tools to help you drop his name...correctly.

--James Poniewozik

The Name. Rhymes with "the talk of," not "rabbit cough," as lit-rocker Sting pronounced it in the Police's "Don't Stand So Close to Me." Casual bon mot: Also pace Sting--who called Lolita protagonist Humbert Humbert an "old man"--Nabokov's legendary pedophile was a spring chicken in his 30s.

The Papers. "Nabokov Under Glass," through Aug. 21 at the New York Public Library, displays Nabokov's notes, chess diagrams, and letters. Casual bon mot: Translating Alice in Wonderland, Humbert's creator commented, "Lewis Carroll liked little girls. I don't."

The Bugs. The work of Vlad the Impaler (of butterflies) is covered in the forthcoming Nabokov's Butterflies. Casual bon mot: He named several varieties, including the now endangered Lycaeides melissa samuelis Nabokov.

The Flicks. Both Lolita films--Stanley Kubrick's (soon to be re-released on video) and Adrian Lyne's recent reprise--met with controversy and mixed reviews. Casual bon mot: For the purist, nothing beats Nabokov's own gargantuan screenplay, of which Kubrick used only a smidgen.