Vladimir Nabokov’s butterflies

“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.

[…] I have hunted butterflies in various climes and disguises: as a pretty boy in knickerbockers and sailor cap; as a lanky cosmopolitan expatriate in flannel bags and beret; as a fat hatless old man in shorts”.

Vladimir Nabokov, Speak, Memory

Nymphalis antiopa LINNAEUS, 1758.

One of the most beautiful butterflies in northern latitudes. In Europe, it is possible to meet up to the northern tip of Norway. Mentioned in the works of Nabokov’s 12 times. During the writing of Nabokov’s novel “The Gift” belongs to the genus Vanessa.

Velvety black, with a warm shimmer plum ripe,
Here it is opened, through this velvet live
sweet lit some cornflower seeds azure
along the circular fringe, yellow as shaky rye.
Sat on the trunk, and breathing gear delicate wings,
then dropping to the crust, then turning to the Rays …
Oh, how they rejoice, as twinkle divine!
Say: Deep night in a frame of two fawn dawns.
Hello, oh hello, dream northern birch grove!
Awe, and laughter and the love of my youth eternal.
Yes, I know you in the Seraphim with marvelous rendezvous,
Know your wings, this sacred pattern.

Vladimir Nabokov, butterfly (Vanessa antiopa), 1921

http://www.nabokovmuseum.org/butterfly1.html