William Blake, that most un-nabokovian of poets and
craftsmen, dared inquire about the symmetry framed by " whose immortal
hand..."
When following discussions about Nabokov and
butterflies ( or reading the chapter on "Father's Butterflies" that was not
included in "Dar") I always get the impression that Nabokov silently asked
himself a similar question when he wrote about the detailed mimicry work
that far excelled natural selection's demands.
The classification of insects and other
animals into species or genera may have all the failings that
arise from the use of instruments constructed by mankind ( be
they microscopes or rational thought that relies on language and
syntax).
There are the art-works, there are the useful
instruments, objects and tools, there is rough matter resisting us all
around.
We shouldn't forget that, quite often, the name
of Nabokov is linked to the idea of " Ars gratia artis", to the project of
creating superfluous exuberant detailed expressions or images, leaving to
others the care for utilitarian artifacts to pursue his artistic
project.
He often brought together the concision of poetry
and the "artfulness" in the natural world. He often described himself as an
omniscient Deity ruling over his written work and his invented
"mir-ages".
I would like to hear more about this special
non-utilitarian, non-Darwinistic point of view in Nabokov which suggests,
to me at least, obviously not a Creationist biblical stand-point but a more
generic concept of the world ( nature as art, art as nature) as having
been engendered by "a misterious hand".
Jansy