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Fine Lines: Vladimir Nabokov’s Scientific Art
This landmark book is the first full appraisal of Vladimir Nabokov’s long-neglected contributions as a scientist. Although his literary achievements are renowned, until recently his scientific discoveries were ignored or dismissed by many. Nabokov created well over 1,000 technical illustrations of the anatomical structures of butterflies, seeking to understand the evolutionary diversity of small butterflies called Blues. But only lately have scientists confirmed his meticulous research and vindicated his surprising hypotheses.
This volume reproduces 154 of Nabokov’s drawings, few of which have ever been seen in public, and presents essays by ten leading scientists and Nabokov specialists. The contributors underscore the significance of Nabokov’s drawings as scientific documents, evaluate his visionary contributions to evolutionary biology and systematics, and offer insights into his unique artistic perception and creativity.
This volume reproduces 154 of Nabokov’s drawings, few of which have ever been seen in public, and presents essays by ten leading scientists and Nabokov specialists. The contributors underscore the significance of Nabokov’s drawings as scientific documents, evaluate his visionary contributions to evolutionary biology and systematics, and offer insights into his unique artistic perception and creativity.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published March 22, 2016
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June 23, 2016From having read Nabokov's memoir, Speak, Memory, I know that his interest in butterflies was beyond that of an amateur. Until I began reading this book, however, I had no idea how involved in the scientific pursuit of information he was over the course of his life. As I began reading this work, I was introduced to more than I have ever expected to encounter about species variations, debates on species adaptations and all the various scientific terminology that apparently is required to explain it. The minutiae involved in discovering changes, the subtleties of these changes and the amazing skill and patience Nabokov must have had all those years ago to document what he observed on so many index cards. It certainly increases my respect for him further.
However, after reading the first 10% of this work, then skimming through many of Nabokov's diagrams with accompanying explanations, and dropping in on a few of the later essays, I have come to the conclusion that I have neither the scientific knowledge nor depth of interest required to continue with this book. I was hoping for something that more obviously blended the natural and literary worlds on a more literary level that I could relate to but have not found that here.
For those with a somewhat more scientific or naturalist bent, however, I believe this would be a fascinating read. For that reason I am not going to rate this book but instead leave with the above recommendation.
I was provided with a copy of this book by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.
However, after reading the first 10% of this work, then skimming through many of Nabokov's diagrams with accompanying explanations, and dropping in on a few of the later essays, I have come to the conclusion that I have neither the scientific knowledge nor depth of interest required to continue with this book. I was hoping for something that more obviously blended the natural and literary worlds on a more literary level that I could relate to but have not found that here.
For those with a somewhat more scientific or naturalist bent, however, I believe this would be a fascinating read. For that reason I am not going to rate this book but instead leave with the above recommendation.
I was provided with a copy of this book by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.
April 5, 2016
Fine Lines by Stephen H. Blackwell and Kurt Johnson knocked me out of the water for a couple of reasons, good and bad. On the positive side, I was blown out of the water by its fresh, unique multi-discipliary exploration of Vladimir Nabokov’s work as a scientist and a writer. I do not know of any other book like it. It is a fascinating amalgam of science, art and scholarship.
On the negative side, I nearly drowned trying to wade through the Introduction which was, to be perfectly honest, far over my head. It felt like the writers deliberately threw readers in the deep end, with unnecessarily specialized language. Maybe they should do a lay and a professional introduction. Since reading it, I have been trying to internalize vagile, which means far-ranging, able to move about freely, using it in a sentence several times. Here’s one, vagile is not in autocorrect and is repeatedly changed to agile. Here’s another. Reading about Evergreen students who travel from one Sanders rally to another across the country, I wonder how they can be so vagile during the school year.
However, I struggled my way through it. I was dog paddling at best, often underwater, but it’s only 23 pages. I did get through it, understanding the major ideas of the introduction. The TL:DR version is Nabokov was a great scientific thinker whose speculations fifty years ago have recently been confirmed through DNA analysis and that the scientific community has come to many of the same conclusions about evolutionary taxonomy that Nabokov was batting around decades ago. His contributions to science have been overlooked and dismissed, perhaps because he left the profession to write. Also, he liked index cards. My advice to readers who are not experts is to read the rest of the book first and then read the introduction, or if you’re feeling frisky, just skip the introduction. YOLO!
Much of the book is a collection of black and white and color drawings of butterflies drawn by Nabakov. Some of them are sketches of many different butterflies genitalia. Some of them are very beautiful drawings of their wings. The totality of them is a revelation of a disciplined, methodical and incisive mind. I would be tempted to make some joke about his obsession with butterfly genitalia providing insight to his exploration of desire in his books or make a joke about a new window into Humbert Humbert, but I know enough about biology to know that studying genitalia is vital to differentiating species which was his focus.
The book ends with ten essays. I read them one at a time, going to another book before coming back, giving me time to reflect and clear my mind. For me, this and the beautiful illustrations were the best part of the book. I particularly liked A Few Notes on Nabakov’s Childhood Entomology by Victor Fet that included a fast and furious history of the lepidopterists of the aristocracy and royalty, the nuts with nets. He writes about books and events that would have influenced the child scientific prodigy. This essay is a fascinating collection of bits and pieces of history and people. I also enjoyed Victoria Alexander’s Changee, Nature’s Practical Jokes, and the ‘Non-Utilitarian Delights’ of Butterfly Mimicry. “The chance that mimics choice, the flaw that looks like a flower” as Nabokov described how nature seems to do more than it needs to do merely for survival. While some of the science is quite technical, her writing is clear and also lyrical.
5paws
As difficult and challenging as much of Fine Lines has been to read. I am stunned by the bold vision to bring together this exploration of literature and science, the creative and the objective, imagination and observation. It is well worth the effort. I do not recommend this to everyone. If you’re a scientist, in particular a biologist, you won’t have to struggle. You can just enjoy the exciting experiment that it is. If, like me, you’re an amateur, someone who reads popular science books for fun, but not with the expertise for straight academic science, this is going to be a struggle, but it’s a beautiful struggle. I know it is odd to rate a book so highly when it has been such a struggle, but my 5 star rating is something rare – reserved for what is unique and new, the fresh and the rare, not the easiest or most pleasurable, but the most special. That is what Fine Lines is.
I was provided an Advanced Readers galley by the publisher through NetGalley.
Originally blogged here: https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpre...
On the negative side, I nearly drowned trying to wade through the Introduction which was, to be perfectly honest, far over my head. It felt like the writers deliberately threw readers in the deep end, with unnecessarily specialized language. Maybe they should do a lay and a professional introduction. Since reading it, I have been trying to internalize vagile, which means far-ranging, able to move about freely, using it in a sentence several times. Here’s one, vagile is not in autocorrect and is repeatedly changed to agile. Here’s another. Reading about Evergreen students who travel from one Sanders rally to another across the country, I wonder how they can be so vagile during the school year.
However, I struggled my way through it. I was dog paddling at best, often underwater, but it’s only 23 pages. I did get through it, understanding the major ideas of the introduction. The TL:DR version is Nabokov was a great scientific thinker whose speculations fifty years ago have recently been confirmed through DNA analysis and that the scientific community has come to many of the same conclusions about evolutionary taxonomy that Nabokov was batting around decades ago. His contributions to science have been overlooked and dismissed, perhaps because he left the profession to write. Also, he liked index cards. My advice to readers who are not experts is to read the rest of the book first and then read the introduction, or if you’re feeling frisky, just skip the introduction. YOLO!
Much of the book is a collection of black and white and color drawings of butterflies drawn by Nabakov. Some of them are sketches of many different butterflies genitalia. Some of them are very beautiful drawings of their wings. The totality of them is a revelation of a disciplined, methodical and incisive mind. I would be tempted to make some joke about his obsession with butterfly genitalia providing insight to his exploration of desire in his books or make a joke about a new window into Humbert Humbert, but I know enough about biology to know that studying genitalia is vital to differentiating species which was his focus.
The book ends with ten essays. I read them one at a time, going to another book before coming back, giving me time to reflect and clear my mind. For me, this and the beautiful illustrations were the best part of the book. I particularly liked A Few Notes on Nabakov’s Childhood Entomology by Victor Fet that included a fast and furious history of the lepidopterists of the aristocracy and royalty, the nuts with nets. He writes about books and events that would have influenced the child scientific prodigy. This essay is a fascinating collection of bits and pieces of history and people. I also enjoyed Victoria Alexander’s Changee, Nature’s Practical Jokes, and the ‘Non-Utilitarian Delights’ of Butterfly Mimicry. “The chance that mimics choice, the flaw that looks like a flower” as Nabokov described how nature seems to do more than it needs to do merely for survival. While some of the science is quite technical, her writing is clear and also lyrical.
5paws
As difficult and challenging as much of Fine Lines has been to read. I am stunned by the bold vision to bring together this exploration of literature and science, the creative and the objective, imagination and observation. It is well worth the effort. I do not recommend this to everyone. If you’re a scientist, in particular a biologist, you won’t have to struggle. You can just enjoy the exciting experiment that it is. If, like me, you’re an amateur, someone who reads popular science books for fun, but not with the expertise for straight academic science, this is going to be a struggle, but it’s a beautiful struggle. I know it is odd to rate a book so highly when it has been such a struggle, but my 5 star rating is something rare – reserved for what is unique and new, the fresh and the rare, not the easiest or most pleasurable, but the most special. That is what Fine Lines is.
I was provided an Advanced Readers galley by the publisher through NetGalley.
Originally blogged here: https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpre...
September 12, 2018
I'll admit that I only checked out Fine Lines for the pictures of butterflies; there, I said it. I knew going in that I was going to be overwhelmed by all the concepts and terms of lepidoptery, and although it wasn't as complex as I was thinking it would be, I still don't know enough about butterflies to be totally engaged in the book. But I have been a massive fan of Vladimir Nabokov's writing since high school, and learning more about his own passions has always been a passion of my own. So I picked up this very dense book to try to enlighten myself more about the fascinating, if overwhelming, study of lepidoptera. My main thrill with this book was learning about the process of Nabokov's slow acceptance into scholarly communities—I knew he was largely perceived as an amateur collector, so it was such a delight to learn in the annals and essays of this book that eventually, years after his death, he was finally awarded the recognition (and vindication) he deserved for all of the hard work he put into the study and examination of butterflies. And, indeed, the photographs of Nabokov's drawings and the specimens he found were incredibly beautiful. I literally gasped aloud upon turning the pages to some of the illustrations: Nabokov's finesse and detail were astounding. Many of the comments and accompanying essays did mention Nabokov's love for details in both science and art, and it was the merging of those two concepts that kept me mostly engaged in the book, even if some of it was way past my understanding.
May 28, 2016
I was aware that Nabokov was a keen butterfly collector, but had no idea that he was such a serious and acclaimed scientist. This beautifully produced book examines in detail the full range of his scientific achievements and includes 148 of his drawings, 62 of them in colour, and includes 10 essays by leading scientists and literary scholars. Nabokov’s literary career and entomological studies were deeply intertwined, as the book makes clear, and reading it gives the reader a deeper understanding of his life and work. Not that it is an easy read. Not by any means. I imagine a real scientist would find it a lot easier than I did, and I admit to skipping large chunks of it. Much was totally beyond me. But even for the lay reader overall the book offers much to those interested in Nabokov, if only for his beautiful illustrations. An important, if challenging, read.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews