Vladimir Nabokov in the Grand Canyon & the Discovery of Butterfly Neonympha

by Lois Kapila
"I am driving off to California to-morrow with butterfly-nets, manuscripts and a new set of teeth." ~Nabokov, from a letter to Edmind Wilson, May 25, 1941
It was already 4 p.m. when we pulled up. The morning heat had relaxed into a late afternoon warmth, and a crowd of tourists stood snapping pictures of what has become one of the most photographed landscapes in the world: the Grand Canyon. It had been an effort to convince my friend to visit the canyon precisely for this reason. "It's where everybody goes," he complained. Like the Eiffel Tower or the Taj Mahal, it's difficult t...