--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Vladimir Nabokov was a writer who cared…" description: "\"Vladimir Nabokov was a writer who cared nothing for music and whose favorite sport was the pursuit, capture, and murder of butterflies. This explains m..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f1f/edward-abbey-254_beauty_vladimir-nabokov-was-a-writer-who-cared_2135220.png" --- # Vladimir Nabokov was a writer who cared nothing for music… ![“Vladimir Nabokov was a writer who cared nothing for music and whose favorite sport was the pursuit, capture, and murder of butterflies. This explains many things; for example, the fact that Nabokov's novels, for all their elegance and wit, resemble nothing so much as butterflies pinned to a board…” quote by Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f1f/edward-abbey-254_beauty_vladimir-nabokov-was-a-writer-who-cared_2135220.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f1f/edward-abbey-254_beauty_vladimir-nabokov-was-a-writer-who-cared_2135220.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f1f/edward-abbey-254_beauty_vladimir-nabokov-was-a-writer-who-cared_2135220.png) > “Vladimir Nabokov was a writer who cared nothing for music and whose favorite sport was the pursuit, capture, and murder of butterflies. This explains many things; for example, the fact that Nabokov's novels, for all their elegance and wit, resemble nothing so much as butterflies pinned to a board: pretty but dead; symmetrical but stiff.” [Edward Abbey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-abbey/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Nabokov valued literature over music and sport, likening his novels to beautiful but lifeless butterflies. **In simple terms:** Literature over music, fragile beauty Key Takeaway Appreciate depth, not just surface Themes art beauty fragility Mood analytical contemplative Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - reading clubs - art criticism - creative writing - museum curation Key Concepts aestheticism literary criticism Questions to Reflect On - What does beauty mean to you? - Can art be both beautiful and alive? A Different Perspective May dismiss other art forms; metaphor can oversimplify. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Beauty](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/beauty/) [Boards](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/boards/) [Butterfly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/butterfly/) [Capture](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/capture/) [Elegance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/elegance/) [Example](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/example/) [Fact Nabokov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/fact-nabokov-4418886/) [Facts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/facts/) [Favorite sports](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/favorite-sports/) [Murder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/murder/) [Music](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/music/) [Nabokov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nabokov/) [Nabokov Novels](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nabokov-novels-4418885/) [Nabokov Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/nabokov-writer-4418884/) [Novel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/novel/) [Pursuit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/pursuit/) [Sports](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sports/) [Symmetrical](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/symmetrical/) [Vladimir Nabokov](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/vladimir-nabokov/) [Wit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wit/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [“Everything is PR” has become the favorite phrase of the new Russia; my Moscow peers are filled with a sense that they are both…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-pomerantsev/everything-is-pr-has-become-the-favorite-phrase-of-the-new-russia-my/) [Peter Pomerantsev](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-pomerantsev/) > ['Pale Fire' by Vladimir Nabokov was bloody hard work but really thrilling.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/domhnall-gleeson/pale-fire-by-vladimir-nabokov-was-bloody-hard-work-but-really/) [Domhnall Gleeson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/domhnall-gleeson/) > [“I looked and looked at her, and knew as clearly as I know I am to die, that I loved her more than anything…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/keira-michelle-telford/i-looked-and-looked-at-her-and-knew-as-clearly-as-i-know-i-am-to-die-2/) [Keira Michelle Telford](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/keira-michelle-telford/) > ['Pnin' by Vladimir Nabokov, which is a literally small book, fit right in my common law book. 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He was absolutely correct.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dean-koontz/vladimir-nabokov-said-the-two-great-evils-of-the-20th-century-were/) [Dean Koontz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dean-koontz/) > [After so many attempts to mount a musical version of 'Lolita,' the project was well and truly dead by the summer of 1971. Chief…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-weinman/after-so-many-attempts-to-mount-a-musical-version-of-lolita-the/) [Sarah Weinman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-weinman/) > [Vladimir Nabokov liked to examine cruelty and the human condition. 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