Rainbow dust Three centuries of butterfly delight

Peter Marren

Book - 2016

"Like fluttering shards of stained glass, butterflies possess a unique power to pierce and stir the human soul. Indeed, the ancient Greeks explicitly equated the two in a single word, psyche, so that from early times butterflies were not only a form of life, but also an idea. Profound and deeply personal, written with both wisdom and wit, Peter Marren's Rainbow Dust explores this idea of butterflies -- the why behind the mysterious power of these insects we do not flee, but rather chase. At the age of five, Marren had his "Nabokov Moment," catching his first butterfly and feeling the dust of its colored scales between his fingers. It was a moment that would launch a lifetime's fascination rivaling that of the famed ...novelist -- a fascination that put both in good company. From the butterfly collecting and rearing craze that consumed North America and Europe for more than two hundred years (a hobby that in some cases bordered on madness), to the potent allure of butterfly iconography in contemporary advertisements and their use in spearheading calls to conserve and restore habitats (even though butterflies are essentially economically worthless), Marren unveils the many ways in which butterflies inspire us as objects of beauty and as symbols both transient and transcendent. Floating around the globe and through the whole gamut of human thought, from art and literature to religion and science, Rainbow Dust is a cultural history rather than merely a natural one, a tribute to butterflies' power to surprise, entertain, and obsess us. With a sway that far surpasses their fragile anatomy and gentle beat, butterfly wings draw us into the prismatic wonders of the natural world -- and, in the words of Marren, these wonders take flight." -- Dust jacket.

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Subjects
Published
Chicago : The University of Chicago Press [2016]
Language
English
Main Author
Peter Marren (author)
Item Description
"With a new preface" -- title page.
Originally published, London : Square Peg, 2015.
Physical Description
xx, 308 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references (pages 263-284) and index.
ISBN
9780226395883
  • Preface
  • Introduction: The Painted Lady
  • 1. Meeting the Butterfly
  • 2. Chasing the Clouded Yellow
  • 3. Graylings: The Birth of a Passion
  • 4. Gatekeepers: Collecting with Jean Froissart, John Fowles and Vladimir Nabokov
  • 5. Lady Glanville's Fritillary
  • 6. At the Sign of the Chequered Skipper
  • 7. The Golden Hog or The Wonderful Names of Butterflies
  • 8. Seeing Red: The Admiral
  • 9. Fire and Brimstone: Butterflies and the Imagination
  • 10. Silver Washes and Pearl Borders: Painting Butterflies
  • 11. Endgame: The Large Blue and Other Dropouts
  • 12. The Wall or How to Protect a Butterfly
  • 13. Envoi: Aurora or the Daughter of Dawn
  • Appendix: British Butterflies
  • Notes
  • Bibliography
  • Acknowledgements
  • Index
Review by Choice Review

Even though early interest in butterfly collecting may have arisen as a hobby (due to the expression of the insects' angelic beauty), such activities have matured to a point in which collections and those who amass butterflies have contributed information of great importance to the field of science. Butterflies indicate environmental health, and even though many might not witness it, these insects truly have ecological value. They have been used to investigate key concepts in several areas of research, and many collectors have provided valuable knowledge that has advanced understanding of dynamics and the conservation of biodiversity. Wildlife writer Marren offers readers this fascinating, a bit biographical, historical account, which takes one from ancient to modern literature and introduces naturalists dedicated to entomology and specializing in butterflies and moths. Readers learn that even though studying and collecting these creatures was started by artists and beauty admirers, amateur scientists progressively adopted the practice. Today, even though few still perceive collecting as a pastime, collectors are more specialized, and their acquired knowledge is used by scientists and conservationists. This title is very interesting, well researched, well written, and fun to read. Summing Up: Recommended. All readers. --Jorge M. Gonzalez, California State University, Fresno

Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Library Journal Review

British nature writer and conservationist Marren (Bugs Britannica; The Wild Woods) remembers the butterfly collecting of his youth as a life-changing encounter with nature. Such an intense response to butterflies is not uncommon, and the author examines the emotional appeal of butterflies to naturalists, artists, novelists, and collectors during the past 300 years. Marren also traces how the once popular hobby fell out of fashion, explains how these insects acquired poetic names such as red admiral and green hairstreak, and addresses the challenges of conservation efforts in Great Britain. While celebrating British butterfly collectors, the author also considers the sometimes obsessive mentality behind collecting (as depicted in John Fowles's 1963 novel The Collector) by contrasting a simple childhood pastime with the methodical collecting by heavyweights such as members of the famous Rothschild family of bankers, who amassed a million dead butterflies. -Marren is a master of concise, elegant writing, and this passionate, personal work is not only a fascinating cultural study of these creatures but also an example of superb nature writing. VERDICT Highly recommended for all nature enthusiasts.-Cynthia Lee Knight, Hunterdon Cty. Historical Soc., -Flemington, NJ © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review

A prizewinning British wildlife writer reveals the special place of butterflies in our imagination and cultural life.Marren (Bugs Britannica, 2010, etc.), an authority on invertebrate folklore and names, begins with his own childhood obsession with butterflies, sharing the moment when, at age 5, he saw the rainbow dust left on his fingers by a painted ladys wing. As he makes clear, those innocent days of butterfly hunting and collecting are long gone, given way to efforts to conserve these creatures in a deteriorating environment. Marren has a firm grasp of history and biology, filling his narrative with vivid accounts of interesting events and encounters with writers, illustrators, hobbyists, and scientists. With an easy style, the author considers butterflies in art and literaturefrom ancient manuscripts to Vladimir Nabokov and John Fowlesand even advertising. Butterflies sell, with their images on products suggesting such positive ideas as freedom, beauty, joy, and purity. This is not a field guide or a natural history but rather a celebration of butterflies with a note of sadness over the decline of these creatures. Marren notes that the joy that butterflies brought to previous generations is now tinged with apprehension over their future. Each chapter opens with a drawing of a butterfly; unfortunately, all are in black and white. Although this is not meant to be a field guide, it does have reference value: an appendix provides thumbnail sketches of British butterflies from the most common to the rarest. Unfortunately, these lists point up one of the books weaknesses, at least from the point of view of American readers: its focus on British butterflies. An erudite, engaging book that will find the broadest readership among nature lovers on the other side of the Atlantic. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.