Fine Lines: Vladimir Nabokov’s Scientific Art

Co-editor: Stephen H. Blackwell
Editor info: Professor of Modern Foreign Languages and Literatures
Publication Date: March 2016
Publisher: Yale University Press
Synopsis: This 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.