Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0025584, Wed, 6 Aug 2014 01:41:47 -0300

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I found this poster, addressed to young readers, where "good ideas" are
compared to " invisible butterflies." There was a hint of J.L.Borges in the
organization of the lists of places where one can find them, or they cannot
be seen but mainly, I was carried over to Nabokov because of a red pencil's
shavings turning into butterflies, and a vague analogy with V's aunt's
invitation to "look at the harlequins."(LATH)



Rough (partial) translation from the Spanish:

"Good ideas are invisible butterflies with their wings filled with writings.
They flutter among us, invisibly. Sometimes we confuse them up with the
other more common butterflies, at other times they perch on our heads and
murmur a reply to what we'd been looking for [ ] We must try to do
something about our butterflies: a drawing, a song, a short-story.

Places in which one can find good ideas: Sitting in a blue chair without
touching the ground with our feet [ ] Close to the ceiling while we are
showering [ ] In the fur of a Dachshund [ ]

Places in which it is impossible to find good ideas: In leather couches with
no wheels; inside the bottles of aloe vera; under our nails [ ] inside the
tins of diet marmalade [ ].




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