The synergetic “butterfly effect” and musicality in V. Nabokov’s autobiographical prose (“Other Shores”)

The article examines the remaining undisclosed aspect of studying the role of butterflies in V. Nabokov’s autobiographical prose. The synergetic principle of “small resonant effects” that cause strong consequences, figuratively called the “butterfly effect” by E. Lorenz, is described using the example of the novel “Other Shores”. It is shown that the images of colorful moths that repeatedly appear on the pages of the book serve as the basis for the “total memory” and spiritual renewal of the hero who found himself in exile. It is noted that the key to understanding the process of personality rebirth is the compositional and dramatic principles of the novel. The novel’s composition is formed by a spatial model of the time of memories, in which time turns into a circle, a “colored ball” or a plane on which the author weaves patterns of Mnemosyne (the goddess of memory). It is pointed out that Nabokov’s inherent visual thinking synesthetically intersects with nonacoustic musicality, forming an intersensory metaphor of “musical space”. The repeating patterns on the “magic carpet of memories”, woven from images of butterflies, are interpreted in the article as verbal leitmotifs. The unique ability of butterflies to mimic and metamorphose is considered from the point of view of a spiral dramatic development that implements the triad stages of the author’s life in the pulsation of the idea of memory. The author emphasizes the identification of the sophisticated beauty of butterflies with the mystery of artistic creation, which connects visual and non-acoustic-musical, space and time. It is concluded that the synergetic effect of fleeting and ephemeral flying creatures in the life of the novel’ s autobiographical hero allows us to reveal a powerful influence that turned the beauty of the patterns on their wings into a miracle of art and contributed to the spiritual rebirth of the author on “other shores.” The author declares no conflicts of interests.

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