Fine lines: Vladimir Nabokov's scientific art

335 Pages·2016·16.904 MB·English

by  Blackwell, Stephen H.;Johnson, Kurt;Nabokov, Vladimir;Nabokov, Vladimir Vladimirovich

Fine Lines

Fine Lines
Vladimir Nabokov’s Scientifi c Art
Edited by Stephen H. Blackwell
&
Kurt Johnson
New Haven and London
Published with assistance from the foundation Designed and typeset by Chris Crochetière,
established in memory of Philip Hamilton McMil- BW&A Books, Inc.
lan of the Class of 1894, Yale College. Printed in China.
Frontispiece: Color Plate 21 (detail)
Copyright © 2016 by Yale University.
All rights reserved. Library of Congress Control Number: 2015951601
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To Dieter E. Zimmer, an inspiration to all
who chase after Nabokov’s receding footsteps
Minister: No, you always draw such complicated things.
And look, you’ve even added shading. It’s revolting.
— Vladimir Nabokov, The Waltz Invention, 1938
Contents
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xi
Anatomical Diagrams xiii
Introduction 1
Black and White Figures
Old World 1–24 30
North America 25–43 54
Latin America 44–78 73
Evolution and Systematics 79–87 108
Wings 88–91 117
Measurements 92 123
Color Plates
Old World 1–27 126
North America 28–32 153
Latin America 33–36 158
Evolution and Systematics 37 162
Wings 38–56 163
Inscriptions to Véra 57–62 182
Plates to Essays E1–E13 188
Essays
Drawing with Words: The Toothwort White and Related Natural History Motifs
in Pale Fire | Robert Dirig 201
A Few Notes on Nabokov’s Childhood Entomology | Victor Fet 216
Chance, Nature’s Practical Jokes, and the “Non- Utilitarian Delights” of Butterfl y
Mimicry | Victoria N. Alexander 225
Nabokov’s Evolution | James Mallet 235
Fictional Realism: Scaling the Twin Peaks of Art and Science | Dorion Sagan 243
Mountains of Detail: On the Trail with Nabokov’s Blues | Lauren K. Lucas,
Matthew L. Forister, James A. Fordyce, and Chris C. Nice 251
Nabokov’s Morphology: An Experiment in Appropriated Terminology |
Stephen H. Blackwell 260
Swift and Underwing, Boulderfi eld and Bog: How Nabokov Drew the World from
Its Details | Robert Michael Pyle 269
Enchanted Hunting: Lolita and Lolita, Diana and diana | Brian Boyd 277
Nabokov’s Notes and Labels from the Museum of Comparative Zoology: Boon for a
Recondite Biographer or Data for a Serious Systematist? | Naomi E. Pierce,
Rodney Eastwood, Roger Vila, Andrew Berry, and Thomas Dai 285
Chronology of Nabokov’s Life 295
Bibliography 297
List of Contributors 305
Illustration Credits 307
Index 311
viii Contents
Preface
This book represents a landmark moment in the understanding of Vladimir Nabokov as
a scientist. After three decades of neglect and two decades of scientifi c confi rmation and
revision, it is fi nally possible to present a comprehensive review of his achievement. The
collection of drawings gathered here also off ers a rich window into his visual engagement
with the world of microscopic structures found inside butterfl ies. Nabokov’s visual passion
resulted in well over a thousand drawings, one hundred and forty-eight of which are in-
cluded here. These drawings, and the way Nabokov used them in his research, give import-
ant insight into how he perceived the world and attempted to know it, and these insights, in
turn, shed light on his artistic perception and creativity.
Never before has any appraisal of Nabokov’s research been based on a thorough review
of his laboratory notes, which, combined with his published scientifi c papers and the recent
DNA-based confi rmations of two of his most controversial hypotheses, allow new clarity
in understanding the signifi cance of his work and locating it in the contexts of evolution-
ary biology and systematics. Jotted notes accompanying many drawings reveal details of
his discovery process, showing how he sought to understand the evolutionary diversity of
Blue butterfl ies by means of morphology. The notes clarify Nabokov’s uncanny sense of the
interplay of temporal, spatial, and developmental factors underlying the major evolution-
ary and taxonomic questions of his day. Viewed in extended sequence across many cards,
the drawings allow an understanding of how he sought to trace the temporal—indeed the
evolutionary—history of the species he studied. Aesthetically, too, they present an unusual
temporal picture—one that brings to mind Nabokov’s habit of writing his novels on similar
note cards, working in nonlinear fashion, and thinking of novelistic time as a painted can-
vas or foldable magic carpet.
After an Introduction that provides a full historical and theoretical context for Nabokov’s
evolutionary work and its relation to his art, the captions to the drawings tell a fascinating
story of how Nabokov conducted his research, how he chose his comparison groups, and
how he identifi ed new distinguishing features of butterfl y genitalia. We place the draw-
ings together, in two groups (ninety-two black-and-white, fi fty-six in color) between the
Introduction and the essays, so that the reader can view them all in close contiguity to one
another, much as Nabokov might have reviewed large groups of drawings as he worked to
discover relationships between butterfl y species and construct hypotheses for their origins.
Extended contemplation of the drawings opens the opportunity for a cumulative aesthetic
impact, as the drawings’ composition and strange contents work their way into the view-
er’s perceptual framework. We intend this organization to facilitate the research of histo-
rians of science as well as that of those who undertake to study the drawings as aesthetic
artifacts.
ix