Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0003490, Mon, 16 Nov 1998 15:42:43 -0800

Subject
"The Texture of Time and Change: Perspectives on Mitchell's Satyr
and the Larger World" (fwd)
Date
Body
From: George Shimanovich <gshiman@worldnet.att.net> -----------------

The Spring 1998 issue of NABA (North American Butterfly Association)
quarterly contains an article with the title "The Texture of Time and
Change: Perspectives on Mitchell's Satyr and the Larger World". The
article by John A. Shuey is about a rare butterfly but brings "Ada" to
memory not only by its title. Here is the short fragment:

"Another factor which might have maintained the open pockets of habitat
for this rare butterfly is the beaver, which periodically flooded portions
of wetlands and literally ate the invading shrubs. Beaver were originally
abundant in the Midwest, but almost were driven to extinction over 100
years ago by intense trapping. Today we often view them as a nuisance when
they set up shop in a nature preserve, rather than as ecological
architects that helped build much of North America's presettlement
landscape. Because of our relatively short time perspective, we humans
easily overlook these phenomena. Ecosystems and even butterflies notice,
because their very survival often depends upon processes that may take
decades, even centuries to play out. Nature is by definition dynamic.
Humans by nature, abhor change. We stabilize ecosystems in the name of
progress, only to discover that stable ecosystems are myths. We attempt to
preserve a few snapshots in time, our time, when in fact we should manage
panoramic movies that reveal the shifts, bumps and wild gyrations of life.
The texture of natural change protects species that live on the edge, that
require ephemeral habitats that come and go. Species like Mitchell's
Satyr."

If we allow ourselves to call incestuous Van and Ada - "species that live
on the edge", whose (love) "very survival often depends upon processes
that may take decades" and whose (Van's) research "manage panoramic movies
that reveal the shifts, bumps and wild gyrations of life" then the
question follows:

What if the title 'Texture of time' came to writer and entomologist
Nabokov for similar reasons that motivated the author of the article about
Mitchell's Satyr? Interestingly to note that the first three letters of
NABA also nicely match.

The text of the article can be found on the site:
http://www.naba.org/pubs/ab98a/p28.html

George Shimanovich
gshiman@worldnet.att.net

-------------------
EDITOR's NOTE. There are several well-known lepidopterists who are
"Nabokovians" -- including Robert Pyle and Kurt Johnson. Whether Mr. Shuey
is among them, I don't know. My guess is that VN's phrase "the texture of
time" is from Bergson.