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[THOUGHTS] Darwin and Nabokov
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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
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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
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm