Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0013062, Fri, 11 Aug 2006 14:11:20 -0300

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Would this be interesting to post in the List? Babochka and Gradus
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Dear List,

I'll add one sample of a bow-tie, just in case Gradus wore one instead of a more common brown/red striped one. His tie was mentioned on note to line 949, page 277, EL:
..." an Easter gift from a dressy butcher,his brother -in-law in Onhava: imitation silk, color chocolate brown, barred with red".

As posted several weeks ago ( while discussing Nabokov's ties) I found out that in Russian, a butterfly-tie or Babochka, got its name from "Baba", old hag, since there butterflies were associated with witches.

Here I also include the quote from a site where I found the description of the "Vanessa atalanta" as displaying a "chocolate/brown color" :

"The Red Admiral is mainly a dark chocolate brown/black. There are red/orange bands and white markings. I class it as one of the "big and brown" butterflies that visit Buddleia." Cf. Linda Walls, in a site at the internet that carries her sightings of the Red Admiral in the English countryside.

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