THIS RESPONDS tO CAROLYN'S posting at bottom.


Quoting Carolyn Kunin <chaiselongue@EARTHLINK.NET>:

TO Carolyn Kunin
From Don Johnson

Hi, Carolyn. Many thanks for the Red Admiral Rothschild reference. I'll 
check it
out today. What I had in mind was not so much that the general 
proposition that
Red Admiral = death but that VN's inteview comment that the asserted 
presence of
the figure 1881 on the hind wind heralded the death of Tsar Alexander 
II. I have
not been able to document this legend and suspected (perhaps wrongly) that VN
might have created it.

I'm not so sure about the White VS Red opposition you suggest.

Best, Don
----------------------------------------------------


> Both of these revisions clearly establish the immanency of death as signaled
> by the Red Admiral--just as it does in PF.
>
> Dear Don,
>
> The Red Admiral as a harbinger of death is not an invention of Nabokov's - -
> it is a 17th century convention in art history. Probably derived from the
> ancient Greek association between the two meanings of psyche: butterfly,
> soul.
>
> I found reference to this imagery in Miriam Rothschild's book Butterfly
> Cooing like a Dove. The interesting thing, to me especially, is the contrast
> with the symbol of white butterflies which indicate resurrection and
> immortality. In apposition, the Red Admiral signifies death and damnation.
>
> Both types appear in PF, the earlier Cabbage White I think, and the later
> Red Admiral. Is it possible VN was not aware of these associations?
>
> Carolyn
>
>

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