Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0027585, Wed, 1 Nov 2017 14:30:17 -0700

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Re: moth entomologist in one of V's novels
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My reply is to Hen Hanna, so I don't know if this is helpful to you, Tori,
but maybe it is:

Nabokov was quite taken with the hawk moth "the jets of my boyhood". They
are of the family "sphyngidae", or "sphinx moths". I believe the sphinx
moth is important in Pale Fire for its transcendental significance. I
don't know about Beheading or Christmas.

On Tue, Oct 31, 2017 at 8:23 AM, Hen Hanna <henhanna@gmail.com> wrote:

> Lolita [1997] was a great movie.
> Around 49 min into the film, when H.H. meets CQ (Frank Langella),
> moths are flying into a bug-zapper (?).
>
> I just checked and it's not in Lolita -- apprently copied from
> another VN book.
>
> (It seems a bit odd that there's no separate word
> for a moth entomologist. )
>
>
> My copy of [Annotated Lolita] is the 1970 edition.
> Is the new version greately expanded (other than the Index) ?
> If so, I'll have to get it.
>
> Thank you. HH
>
>
> >>> His favourite was the Red Admiral but it is his literary treatment
> of moths that is worthy of closer attention. In both Invitation to a
> Beheading and his short story Christmas, moths appear in the final scenes
> of the works, signifying a character's bodily death and spiritual rebirth.
> In both instances, the moths boast beautiful eyespots on their wings,
> symbolising windows into a transcendental realm.
>
>
> On 10/29/17, VN Alexander <alexander@dactyl.org> wrote:
> > Dear Nabokovians,
> >
> > Please help me remember in which novel the narrator mentions having a
> > chat with an entomologist interested in moths. I believe they met at
> > night, outside a motel where there was a porch light on attracting
> > moths. I may be misremembering these details.
> >
> > Thanks for your help.
> >
> > Yours lazily,
> >
> > Tori Alexander
> >
> >
> > --
> > ______________________________
> > VN Alexander, PhD
> > Director, Dactyl Foundation
> > Public Scholar, NY Council for the Humanities
> > www.victorianalexander.com
> > www.dactylfoundation.org
> >
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> shvabrin@humnet.ucla.edu
> Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
> Nabokov Studies: https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/257
> Chercheurs Enchantes: http://www.vladimir-nabokov.
> org/association/chercheurs-enchantes/73
> Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
> Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
> AdaOnline: "http://www.ada.auckland.ac.nz/
> The Nabokov Society of Japan's Annotations to Ada:
> http://vnjapan.org/main/ada/index.html
> The VN Bibliography Blog: http://vnbiblio.com/
> Search the archive with L-Soft: https://listserv.ucsb.edu/lsv-
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Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en

Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,dana.dragunoiu@gmail.com,shvabrin@humnet.ucla.edu
Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
Nabokov Studies: https://muse.jhu.edu/journal/257
Chercheurs Enchantes: http://www.vladimir-nabokov.org/association/chercheurs-enchantes/73
Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
AdaOnline: "http://www.ada.auckland.ac.nz/
The Nabokov Society of Japan's Annotations to Ada: http://vnjapan.org/main/ada/index.html
The VN Bibliography Blog: http://vnbiblio.com/
Search the archive with L-Soft: https://listserv.ucsb.edu/lsv-cgi-bin/wa?A0=NABOKV-L

Manage subscription options :http://listserv.ucsb.edu/lsv-cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=NABOKV-L
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