More Butterfly Fun.

On page 145 I ran into a sentence that interested me.

Nitra and Indra (meaning "inner" and "outer"), two black islets that seemed to address each other in cloaked parley, were being photographed from the parapet by a Russian tourist, thickset, many-chinned, with a general's fleshy nape.

I did a search on those two "islands" and found, not surprisingly, something very interesting. For an interesting bit on how these terms fit into a bit of wordplay go HERE. HOWEVER, I took a slightly different route.

I found with some quick searching that these terms are specific types of Swallowtail butterflies. These are found in the western United States in areas like Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming (all places where Nabokov studied butterflies).
To read about the Anise Swallowtail (Papilio zelicaon nitra) go HERE.
To read about the Indra Swallowtail (Papilio indra) go HERE.

Here is a picture of the Indra Swallowtail.


NOTE: The two spots at the bottom of the wings.

I looked up the words "islet" as I understood it to mean "island." Another meaning of the word however is "An isolated piece of animal or vegetable tissue." (from the OED)

And then I realized... Nabokov is using this beautiful image of a Swallowtail to help Kinbote describe his escape. The islands that Kinbote sees are like these spots, "addressing each other in cloaked parley."

What more? These islands are being photographed by a RUSSIAN TOURIST!! A Russian tourist who is: "thickset, many-chinned, with a general's fleshy nape." Sound familiar??


Yep:

I see that this is one of those little gems that await the attentive reader, but I couldn't help thinking: if Kinbote commandeers Shade's poem to talk about Zembla, then Nabokov plays the game also.

He interrupts Kinbote's story to insert himself, an actual character into his own novel.