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Re: Vladimir Nabokov’s Drawings ...
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Sandy Klein on Vladimir Nabokov’s Drawings at http://flavorwire.com/171588/vladimir-nabokovs-drawings-of-butterflies (excerpts: In honor of Vladimir Nabokov’s upcoming birthday, we thought we’d take a look at the literary great’s artistic expression of the one thing he loved as much as language – lepidoptera. In his whirling autobiography, Speak, Memory, Nabokov writes, “From the age of seven, everything I felt a connection with a rectangle of framed sunlight was dominated by a single passion. If my first glance of the morning was for the sun, my first thought was for the butterflies it would engender… )
JM: What a lovely posting, Sandy!
There's a very amusing exchange about butterfly drawings in "Dear Bunny, dear Volodya". Besides, there is a butterfly fluttering over a pair of abandoned shoes in a lawn (p.74, letter 43), one attempt by Edmund Wilson to inquire about a Dos Passos moth (p.114,letter 68), pen and ink on page 206(letter 157) and on page 228.
The particular message I have in mind appears on page 190 (letter 142), written by Nabokov in reply to Wilson's sketches of a couple of butterflies. S.Karlinski warns in his note to this letter that "Their description is a parody of a Sherlock Holmes investigation."
Nabokov begins with: "Many thanks for the lepidoptera: most of them belong to the Ebriosus ebrius (SK:"inebriated drunkard") but there is a good sprinkling of the form vinolentus (SK: "full of wine"). At least one seems to be an authentic A. luna seen through a glass (of gin) darkly*; the person who drew these insects possessed the following attributes:
1) was not an entomologist;
2) was vaguely aware of the fact that a lepidoperton has four, and not two wings;
3) in the same vague groping way was more familiar (very comparatively, of course) with moths (Heterocera) than butterflies (Rhopalocera);
4) the latter suggest that at one time he may have spent the month of June ( for the luna lurking at the back of his mind occurs only in the early summer) in a country-house in New York state: warm, dark, fluffy nights.*
5) He was not a smoker since the empty Regent cigarette box....
(the list goes to number 13 and who is interested can look it up directly in the "DB,DV" edition...)
..............................................................................................................
* - the letter is from March 24,1946.
btw|:I thought it amusing to find a reference to Sherlock Holmes and to "an authentic A.luna seen through a glass...darkly" in a very light funny mood since in future years we'll find A.Luna, Holmes and a reference to "through a glass, darkly" in Nabokov's Pale Fire. We also know that John Shade began to write his poem in the beginning of July and Nabokov deduces the inebriated artist's vision of the moth in June & early summer. I think that Aunt Maud's Luna is, sofar, undated and "undeducted")
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JM: What a lovely posting, Sandy!
There's a very amusing exchange about butterfly drawings in "Dear Bunny, dear Volodya". Besides, there is a butterfly fluttering over a pair of abandoned shoes in a lawn (p.74, letter 43), one attempt by Edmund Wilson to inquire about a Dos Passos moth (p.114,letter 68), pen and ink on page 206(letter 157) and on page 228.
The particular message I have in mind appears on page 190 (letter 142), written by Nabokov in reply to Wilson's sketches of a couple of butterflies. S.Karlinski warns in his note to this letter that "Their description is a parody of a Sherlock Holmes investigation."
Nabokov begins with: "Many thanks for the lepidoptera: most of them belong to the Ebriosus ebrius (SK:"inebriated drunkard") but there is a good sprinkling of the form vinolentus (SK: "full of wine"). At least one seems to be an authentic A. luna seen through a glass (of gin) darkly*; the person who drew these insects possessed the following attributes:
1) was not an entomologist;
2) was vaguely aware of the fact that a lepidoperton has four, and not two wings;
3) in the same vague groping way was more familiar (very comparatively, of course) with moths (Heterocera) than butterflies (Rhopalocera);
4) the latter suggest that at one time he may have spent the month of June ( for the luna lurking at the back of his mind occurs only in the early summer) in a country-house in New York state: warm, dark, fluffy nights.*
5) He was not a smoker since the empty Regent cigarette box....
(the list goes to number 13 and who is interested can look it up directly in the "DB,DV" edition...)
..............................................................................................................
* - the letter is from March 24,1946.
btw|:I thought it amusing to find a reference to Sherlock Holmes and to "an authentic A.luna seen through a glass...darkly" in a very light funny mood since in future years we'll find A.Luna, Holmes and a reference to "through a glass, darkly" in Nabokov's Pale Fire. We also know that John Shade began to write his poem in the beginning of July and Nabokov deduces the inebriated artist's vision of the moth in June & early summer. I think that Aunt Maud's Luna is, sofar, undated and "undeducted")
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,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/