Vladimir Nabokov

Karsh, Yousuf, 1908-2002 · 1972

To photograph Vladimir Nabokov I journeyed to Montreux, on the shores of Lake Geneva, where in the shelter of the great Swiss Alps the famed author resides in timeless gentility in the town's principal hotel... At dinner he spoke interestingly of his work. I found it difficult to know him as a human being; he was as brilliant and involuted as his writing. ~ The next day, he arrived to be photographed. He is used to being sought out; he was correct. Nevertheless, he left the impression that he must get back to his room before his wife had finished typing the last of the manuscript. His life clearly is well planned. ~ He is a lepidopterist, or butterfly scientist, of some distinction, and the author of several scientific papers in this field. In his autobiography, Speak, Memory, and elsewhere, he has written of the beauty of butterflies - the prismatic quality of their colours, and the sensuous delight off arranging them in aesthetically pleasing patterns. He brought with him to the sitting one particularly beautiful specimen from his collection encased in plexiglass (Karsh, 1976).