Nabokov's Blues
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Overview
Part biography of one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century, and part scientific detective story, Nabokov's Blues explores far-reaching questions of biogeography, evolution, and the worldwide crisis in biodiversity -- as well as the rich and varied place butterflies hold in Nabokov's fiction.Synopsis
Part biography of one of the greatest writers of the twentieth century, and part scientific detective story, Nabokov's Blues explores far-reaching questions of biogeography, evolution, and the worldwide crisis in biodiversity -- as well as the rich and varied place butterflies hold in Nabokov's fiction.
Publishers Weekly
Vladimir Nabokov gained world fame with Lolita and captivated sophisticated readers with a score of other fictions, but he took equal pride in his studies of butterflies, publishing several technical papers describing and classifying members of the subfamily Polyommatini, or Blues. Nabokovians have long known of his lepidopterous labors; insect experts, however, often and wrongly neglected the novelist's research, which turns out (despite his amateur status) to include a serious contribution to knowledge of New World tropical Blues. During the late 1980s, lepidopterist Johnson and his colleague Zsolt B lint discovered, in remote parts of Central America, specimens that strengthened or proved the arguments Nabokov had made. The new Blues, the story of their discovery and the meaning and relevance of Nabokov's scientific studies give Johnson and New York Times writer Coates some of the subjects for their hard-to-classify book, a rarely attempted sort of hybrid that crosses informed science writing with literary biography. On the science side, Johnson and Coates cover the place of butterfly studies in Nabokov's life; the contentious history of butterfly and moth taxonomy and the development of its basic rules; and the use of butterfly studies in larger debates on ecology and evolution. Literarily, they discuss the meaning of butterflies and moths in Nabokov's writings and show that specialist knowledge of lepidopterology enriches the ironies and punch lines readers can find in Nabokov's The Gift. Curiously, Nabokov's Blues yield startling insights into biological mimicry--an appropriate turn, given the novelist's own penchants for masks and doubles. Readers with a taste for science and literature will love this book, which is both entertaining and polymathically informative--rather like the English/Russian, naturalist/novelist, scholar/artist Nabokov himself. Eight b&w illus. (Oct.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.
Editorials
Publishers Weekly -
Vladimir Nabokov gained world fame with Lolita and captivated sophisticated readers with a score of other fictions, but he took equal pride in his studies of butterflies, publishing several technical papers describing and classifying members of the subfamily Polyommatini, or Blues. Nabokovians have long known of his lepidopterous labors; insect experts, however, often and wrongly neglected the novelist's research, which turns out (despite his amateur status) to include a serious contribution to knowledge of New World tropical Blues. During the late 1980s, lepidopterist Johnson and his colleague Zsolt B lint discovered, in remote parts of Central America, specimens that strengthened or proved the arguments Nabokov had made. The new Blues, the story of their discovery and the meaning and relevance of Nabokov's scientific studies give Johnson and New York Times writer Coates some of the subjects for their hard-to-classify book, a rarely attempted sort of hybrid that crosses informed science writing with literary biography. On the science side, Johnson and Coates cover the place of butterfly studies in Nabokov's life; the contentious history of butterfly and moth taxonomy and the development of its basic rules; and the use of butterfly studies in larger debates on ecology and evolution. Literarily, they discuss the meaning of butterflies and moths in Nabokov's writings and show that specialist knowledge of lepidopterology enriches the ironies and punch lines readers can find in Nabokov's The Gift. Curiously, Nabokov's Blues yield startling insights into biological mimicry--an appropriate turn, given the novelist's own penchants for masks and doubles. Readers with a taste for science and literature will love this book, which is both entertaining and polymathically informative--rather like the English/Russian, naturalist/novelist, scholar/artist Nabokov himself. Eight b&w illus. (Oct.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.Library Journal
Interest in Nabokov has been kept up in recent years by such work as Boyd's monumental two-volume biography and Stacy Schiff's V ra (Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov). These two new studies will only enhance interest in Nabokov for some time to come. Boyd's new book is an intensive examination of Nabokov's Pale Fire--a book that many scholars consider his masterpiece, since it lends itself to a variety of interpretations. Boyd looks at these interpretations and offers his own insights, some of which have changed over the years. He argues that the genius of Pale Fire is that while it can be read easily in a straightforward manner, further readings reveal a multilayered story that promts the reader to dig for deeper meanings. Boyd skillfully peels away the layers of this novel in a feast of literary detective work. He recommends that one read the novel before taking on his book. On the other hand, one need not read any of Nabokov's work to prepare for Johnson and Coates's Nabokov's Blues. Though he had no formal training in biology, Nabokov became an acknowledged expert on Blues--a diverse group of Latin American butterflies. Here Johnson and Coates examine his butterfly studies in the context of recent scientific expeditions to South America. They succeed in presenting both a biographical and scientific study that brings new understanding to both Nabokov's writing and his place in science. Taken together, these books should keep the most ardent Nabokov reader busy for some time. Recommended for academic collections.--Ronald Ratliff, Emporia P.L., KS Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.Booknews
Russian-American writer Nabokov (1899-1977) is widely known for his fiction, but the focus here is on what has turned out to be his significant contribution to the study of butterflies in the 1940s. He was particularly expert in the diverse group called Blues, and in 1945 published a radical new classification scheme for them. Johnson, a lepidopterist who made field discoveries confirming Nabokov's findings, and editor Coates combine biography, the place of butterflies in his fiction, biogeography, evolution, and the worldwide crisis in ecology and biodiversity. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)New Yorker
In 1945, Vladimir Nabokov, an Ε½migrΕ½ teaching literature at Wellesley, published "Notes on Neotropical Plebejinae," a paper classifying Latin-American butterflies (the "Blues" of the title) that he had studied at Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology. The paper was ignored for more than forty years, but in 1987 a group of lepidopterists, Johnson among them, encountered a puzzling specimen in a rainforest in the Domincan Republic. The discovery led to more than a decade of lab and field work - from the cloud forests of the Andes to the dusty attics of countless museums - which eventually vindicated Nabokov's paper. This insidiously charming book teaches readers about the place of lepidoptery in the life sciences and the kinds of questions that natural scientists seek to answer. Whether it belongs to the literature of science or simply to literature is uncertain, but, like Nabokov himself, this volume exemplifies some of the virtues shared by art and science: wit, intelligence, and, above all, meticulousness.Richard Conniff
[C]harming...In a world that often separates science and culture like church and state, this book reminds us that, for Nabokov, butterflies helped shape ''a habitual way of looking at the world'' that was ultimately conducive to great literature and to great lepidoptery alike.βThe New York Times Book Review