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Grex Nature Item 15: Nature Quiz #1
Entered by md on Wed Sep 25 19:02:55 UTC 1991:

Vladimir Nabokov was scientifically precise in all of his imagery, 
but especially in his nature imagery.  This precision is one of the 
glories of his art, but ironically it is lost on many critics and 
reviewers.  

For example, reviewers of Nabokov's novel _Pale Fire_, from John 
Updike to Brian Boyd, have all placed the novel in Ithaca, New 
York.  Nabokov taught at Cornell for a while, there is a big 
Cornell-like university in _Pale Fire_, "New Wye" (ie, "New Y"?) is 
one of the place names in the novel, etc.  Seems pretty obvious, 
right?  

Wrong.  Nabokov went to great pains to specify the locus of "New 
Wye" by giving the names of the butterflies that are found there, 
and it ain't anywhere near Ithaca.  For readers who don't know 
butterflies, Nabokov even gives map coordinates, sort of, in the 
first few pages.  An honorary D. Litt. from Collegii Grexensis to 
the first person who correctly identifies where "New Wye" in _Pale 
Fire_ is really located.

9 responses total.

#1 of 9 by bad on Thu Sep 26 12:44:42 1991:

Rats. I read that, and I think I even knew where it was (though not through
the butterflies)

#2 of 9 by md on Fri Sep 27 16:57:16 1991:

Questions for discussion:  


I. Don't you just hate this?


II. For those with access to butterfly field guides.

   A. A character writes, "The Toothwort White haunted our woods in 
      May." 

      1. Which butterfly of the "white", or Pieridae, family has 
         Toothwort as a larval foodplant and adults that emerge in 
         the month of May?  

      2. What is this butterfly's Latin name?  

   B. The same character says New Wye is unusual because "Diana" 
      and "Atlantis" are found together there.  He is referring to 
      two butterflies of the genus Speyeria: Speyeria diana and 
      Speyeria atlantis.  
      
      1. What are the ranges of these two butterflies?  

      2. Where do their ranges overlap?  


III. For those without access to butterfly field guides.  

    A. First we're told that New Wye is located in Appalachia.  

    B. Then the narrator tells us that he doesn't understand why 
       the winters in New Wye should be so cold, because New Wye is 
       "at the latitude of Palermo."  

       1. What "Palermo" is he referring to?  (Presumably it's some 
          place where the winters aren't cold at all.)  

       2. What latitude is this Palermo at?  

       3. Where does that latitude line cross Appalachia?

#3 of 9 by bad on Sat Sep 28 02:10:22 1991:

Pittsburgh.
No, wait...
 :)

#4 of 9 by mcnally on Sat Sep 28 06:42:41 1991:

  The only Palermo I know of is in Sicily.

#5 of 9 by chelsea on Wed Jun 3 22:36:46 1992:

I'm still thinking...

#6 of 9 by chelsea on Wed Jun 3 22:37:15 1992:

My brain hurts.

#7 of 9 by bad on Thu Jun 4 08:32:36 1992:

I wonder if I kept my notes from lit 332...
The class that we all liked, but the people in 101 hated...

#8 of 9 by mcnally on Fri Jun 5 18:39:52 1992:

  Looking at the (admittedly wildly distorted) Postscript map I have 
on my computer, it looks like Palermo, Sicily would be on about the 
same parallel as central Virginia (and maybe a little bit of West
Virginia..)  Like I said, it was a crummy map, so that could be off
by a bit, but I'd guess the town's supposed to be in Virginia..

#9 of 9 by md on Mon Jun 15 20:22:51 1992:

An honorary D. Litt. from Collegii Grexensis to mncally, and four
ibuprofen tablets to chelsea.  The "Toothwort White" is Pieris
virginiensis, and the two Speyeria species' ranges overlap in
the Appalachians of western Virginia and West Virginia.

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