Subject
Fw: Victoria Alexander,
"Neutral Evolution and Aesthetics: Vladimir Nabokov and Insect
Mimicry"
"Neutral Evolution and Aesthetics: Vladimir Nabokov and Insect
Mimicry"
From
Date
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Sent: Monday, August 26, 2002 11:49 AM
Subject: Victoria Alexander, "Neutral Evolution and Aesthetics: Vladimir
Nabokov and Insect Mimicry"
>
> EDITOR's NOTE. Below is an abstract of a publication on the Santa Fe
Institute web page. The article it describes is the subject of the current
NABOKV-L exchange between Drs. Alexander and Boyd. Dr. Alexander's CV is
available at http://www.dactyl.org/directors/vna/cv.html An article
derived from her M.A. thesis "Martin Amis: Between the Influences of
Bellow
and Nabokov" appeared in the Antioch Review (Fall 1994)
> http://www.dactyl.org/directors/vna/amis.html
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------
> 2001
> Title: Neutral Evolution and Aesthetics: Vladimir Nabokov and Insect
Mimicry
> Author(s): Victoria N. Alexander
> Files: [gzipped postscript] [postscript] [pdf]
> Paper #: 01-10-057
>
> Abstract:
Although Vladimir Nabokov may be better known for his outstanding
lterary achievements, particularly as the author of the novel “Lolita”
(1955), he had an equally impressive genius for science. While acting as
curator at Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology in the 1940s, he became
an expert on a group of butterflies popularly known as “Blues.” He named one
species and several have been named after him. He published nine articles on
lepidoptery in a number of prestigious scientific journals. During this
time, he also developed compelling opinions about evolution. He argued,
rather heretically, that some instances of insect mimicry did not result
from Darwinian survival strategies; that is, slight resemblances could not
be furthered by the “function or purpose” they served, leading “gradually”
to better resemblances. I contend Nabokov was partially correct in his
belief. Recent advances in evolutionary biology, namely structural evolution
and neutral evolution, can be shown to support his argument. I also argue it
was Nabokov's aesthetic interest in the mechanisms behind teleological
phenomena that gave him the insight he needed to construct a theory of
mimicry that was quite progressive for his time.
-----------------------------
> Keywords: neutral evolution, insect mimicry, Vladimir Nabokov, pattern
> formation, aesthetics
>
>
>
Subject: Victoria Alexander, "Neutral Evolution and Aesthetics: Vladimir
Nabokov and Insect Mimicry"
>
> EDITOR's NOTE. Below is an abstract of a publication on the Santa Fe
Institute web page. The article it describes is the subject of the current
NABOKV-L exchange between Drs. Alexander and Boyd. Dr. Alexander's CV is
available at http://www.dactyl.org/directors/vna/cv.html An article
derived from her M.A. thesis "Martin Amis: Between the Influences of
Bellow
and Nabokov" appeared in the Antioch Review (Fall 1994)
> http://www.dactyl.org/directors/vna/amis.html
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------
> 2001
> Title: Neutral Evolution and Aesthetics: Vladimir Nabokov and Insect
Mimicry
> Author(s): Victoria N. Alexander
> Files: [gzipped postscript] [postscript] [pdf]
> Paper #: 01-10-057
>
> Abstract:
Although Vladimir Nabokov may be better known for his outstanding
lterary achievements, particularly as the author of the novel “Lolita”
(1955), he had an equally impressive genius for science. While acting as
curator at Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology in the 1940s, he became
an expert on a group of butterflies popularly known as “Blues.” He named one
species and several have been named after him. He published nine articles on
lepidoptery in a number of prestigious scientific journals. During this
time, he also developed compelling opinions about evolution. He argued,
rather heretically, that some instances of insect mimicry did not result
from Darwinian survival strategies; that is, slight resemblances could not
be furthered by the “function or purpose” they served, leading “gradually”
to better resemblances. I contend Nabokov was partially correct in his
belief. Recent advances in evolutionary biology, namely structural evolution
and neutral evolution, can be shown to support his argument. I also argue it
was Nabokov's aesthetic interest in the mechanisms behind teleological
phenomena that gave him the insight he needed to construct a theory of
mimicry that was quite progressive for his time.
-----------------------------
> Keywords: neutral evolution, insect mimicry, Vladimir Nabokov, pattern
> formation, aesthetics
>
>
>