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Re: Botkin
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Date
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In a message dated 8/31/2010 1:07:21 PM Central Daylight Time,
morris.jr@COMCAST.NET writes:
>
> I offered this as one of five possible interpretation of how Botkin fits
> into "Pale Fire":
>
> 4) As a variation on #3, Zembla is not real, but all the rest applies:
> that is, Botkin invents both Zembla and the Kinbote persona, which delusion
> is inexplicably tolerated at Wordsmith, encouraged by Shade, etc.
>
> And Jerry Friedman responded:
>
> Number 4 is the only one I've ever considered as a possible "real story".
> Botkin is a Russian scholar who goes mad, possibly as the result of
> cerebral sclerosis, and believes himself to be the former king of Zembla now
> living in exile under the name Charles Kinbote. He quite possibly tells his
> neighbor, John Shade, his delusional escape from Zembla as if he were not
> the king, and urges Shade to write a poem about it. Later he acquires the
> poem and writes a commentary on it, taking the opportunity to tell the reader
> a more or less similar version of his story, again pretending (for the
> most part) that he's not the king.
>
> This endorsement of the above “real story of Botkin” is interesting and
> sensible, though it leaves unanswered questions about Kinbote/Botkin’s
> adventures in New Wye, as Jerry points out later in his post. Here are a few
> others:
>
>
>
> Is CK/VB kidding, or lying, in the several places where he quotes others
> as addressing him as “Charles” or “Dr. Kinbote”? I’m thinking, for
> instance, of Sybil Shade’s first words to our commentator: “You are Dr.
> Kinbote, aren’t you?” (p. 23) (By the way, I love the way this question is posed,
> since the accurate answer would be "No"!) Are we to imagine that Shade
> has briefed his wife on Botkin’s delusion, and asked her to humor it? Or is
> it CK/VB himself who, in writing his commentary, makes the substitution?
>
>
>
> Then there’s the party at the Hurleys, where Mrs. H. says, “You must
> help us, Mr. Kinbote . . .” (238) This is an especially noteworthy instance
> because it occurs in the context of Shade’s having just defended CK/VB as “
> a person who peels off a drab and unhappy past and replaces it with a
> brilliant invention.” Mrs. H., embarrassed at CK/VB’s sudden appearance, tries
> to dissimulate, pretending that they were speaking of a “loony” at the
> Exton railway station. CK/VB probably doesn’t understand that he’s the “
> loony” they were actually talking about, but we do. Does Mrs. H., guided by
> Shade, also humor Botkin here by calling him Kinbote? It seems far-fetched.
> I take the point that faculty members have to tolerate a good deal of
> eccentricity, but would they really go so far as to call their mad colleague
> by a false name?
>
>
>
> Most curious of all is the commentary to line 894 in which CK/VB
> maintains that he is often half-recognized as King Charles, and narrates a scene in
> which Shade and several other faculty members discuss Zembla and the King.
> (266-69). Is there a way to interpret this scene consistently with the “
> no Zembla in the world of ‘Pale Fire’” theory?
>
>
>
> Zembla’s existence or non-existence may be connected with the generally
> skewed geography of “Pale Fire”’s world. A face-value reading of the
> Commentary gives us a world that contains New Wye, Cedarn, and a number of
> other unreal places – along with Zembla. Is this all part of CK/VB’s
> delusion? Has CK/VB invented a fanciful geography for his adopted country, in
> addition to a fanciful country of origin? There’s an interesting passage in
> the commentary to line 287 in which Sybil tells CK/VB that they are traveling
> to either Wyoming or Utah or Montana. Ten minutes later, Dr. A. tells
> CK/VB “in stolid detail” that in fact the Shades will stay at a ranch at
> Cedarn in Utana on the Idoming border. Thus, within less than a page, we go
> from the geography of our own world to the invented geography of “Pale Fire.”
> We might read this as another attempt to “blur the reality” of what
> happens in the novel, confronting us with mutually exclusive geographies in
> the same way that both Zembla and not-Zembla appear to coexist.
>
>
>
> The question remains, though, how Kinbote and not-Kinbote (that is,
> Botkin) can coexist. I’ll take Jerry Friedman’s question “Is Botkin straight
> or gay?” as a shortened form of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">all
> the questions I have about Botkin. What they really amount to is: Is V.
> Botkin the Great Beaver? Is he the flamboyant character we know as Charles
> Kinbote? Is that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">all he is? Is there
> another personality called “Botkin” who leads some other, presumably
> quieter, life? Understanding these questions might take us a long way toward
> incorporating Botkin into the novel’s world.
>
>
>
> Best,
>
>
>
> John
>
>
>
>
>
I find this very interesting. My own theory is that Botkin was a professor
at another college who was involved in a sex scandal that wrecked his
career there. He was married, and that went down the drain as a result. He had
some money (the "powerful Kramler") and some connections and was able to
land a job, perhaps temporary, at Wordsmith. His ex-wife may have lived in
Washington, as he reports a mysterious trip there in his notes. As a result of
the scandal, he may have changed his name to get the other job, or that may
have been a result of his madness. Thus, Zembla is a metaphor for the
school he previously taught at and presumably had tenure (like a king) at.
Perhaps there was some kind of witch hunt that caused him to leave the place,
and this led to the Zembla delusions, which mostly seem to come from the
novels of Anthony Hope and Elinor Glyn and a lot of bad movies from the 20s. By
the time he is at Wordsmith he has changed his name by inverting it
(remember that "inversion" is an old term). The visiting professor may be
attempting to "sound him out" re. the depths of his delusion, but Gerald Emerald (not
the most reliable source, btw) does go to an encyclopedia to find an
article on Zembla. Maybe it exists, maybe not. If there is in fact a "real"
Zembla with a king-in-hiding, Botkin has latched onto it as part of his madness.
We do know that Kinbote/Botkin was in fact a reputable scholar who,
according to Shade, wrote a book on surnames. One of these days I hope to be able
to put all of these speculations into some kind of more coherent form.
Kinbote's reflections on his religion and on the suffering of his ex-wife are
the parts of the novel I find most disturbing emotionally, and I don't think
there is any faking on VN's part here. The man sees himself as a sinner and
is guilty about the results of his behavior, though not strong enough to
change it. The "reality" of Botkin, who morphs into Kinbote/Charles X., is
part of the novel's fascinating puzzle--as are such minor things as the
references to Donald O'Donnell (Odon and, perhaps, Nodo) and others, who may have
been "real" characters who have also morphed into their parts in Kinbote's
delusions.
Another thought: when Shade says that he may have guessed Kinbote's
"secret," he may be referring to the fact that Kinbote is the disgraced Botkin, not
Charles X.
Incidentally, has anyone ever thought about CK's odd comment about "Zemblan
anatomy"? Huh?
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morris.jr@COMCAST.NET writes:
>
> I offered this as one of five possible interpretation of how Botkin fits
> into "Pale Fire":
>
> 4) As a variation on #3, Zembla is not real, but all the rest applies:
> that is, Botkin invents both Zembla and the Kinbote persona, which delusion
> is inexplicably tolerated at Wordsmith, encouraged by Shade, etc.
>
> And Jerry Friedman responded:
>
> Number 4 is the only one I've ever considered as a possible "real story".
> Botkin is a Russian scholar who goes mad, possibly as the result of
> cerebral sclerosis, and believes himself to be the former king of Zembla now
> living in exile under the name Charles Kinbote. He quite possibly tells his
> neighbor, John Shade, his delusional escape from Zembla as if he were not
> the king, and urges Shade to write a poem about it. Later he acquires the
> poem and writes a commentary on it, taking the opportunity to tell the reader
> a more or less similar version of his story, again pretending (for the
> most part) that he's not the king.
>
> This endorsement of the above “real story of Botkin” is interesting and
> sensible, though it leaves unanswered questions about Kinbote/Botkin’s
> adventures in New Wye, as Jerry points out later in his post. Here are a few
> others:
>
>
>
> Is CK/VB kidding, or lying, in the several places where he quotes others
> as addressing him as “Charles” or “Dr. Kinbote”? I’m thinking, for
> instance, of Sybil Shade’s first words to our commentator: “You are Dr.
> Kinbote, aren’t you?” (p. 23) (By the way, I love the way this question is posed,
> since the accurate answer would be "No"!) Are we to imagine that Shade
> has briefed his wife on Botkin’s delusion, and asked her to humor it? Or is
> it CK/VB himself who, in writing his commentary, makes the substitution?
>
>
>
> Then there’s the party at the Hurleys, where Mrs. H. says, “You must
> help us, Mr. Kinbote . . .” (238) This is an especially noteworthy instance
> because it occurs in the context of Shade’s having just defended CK/VB as “
> a person who peels off a drab and unhappy past and replaces it with a
> brilliant invention.” Mrs. H., embarrassed at CK/VB’s sudden appearance, tries
> to dissimulate, pretending that they were speaking of a “loony” at the
> Exton railway station. CK/VB probably doesn’t understand that he’s the “
> loony” they were actually talking about, but we do. Does Mrs. H., guided by
> Shade, also humor Botkin here by calling him Kinbote? It seems far-fetched.
> I take the point that faculty members have to tolerate a good deal of
> eccentricity, but would they really go so far as to call their mad colleague
> by a false name?
>
>
>
> Most curious of all is the commentary to line 894 in which CK/VB
> maintains that he is often half-recognized as King Charles, and narrates a scene in
> which Shade and several other faculty members discuss Zembla and the King.
> (266-69). Is there a way to interpret this scene consistently with the “
> no Zembla in the world of ‘Pale Fire’” theory?
>
>
>
> Zembla’s existence or non-existence may be connected with the generally
> skewed geography of “Pale Fire”’s world. A face-value reading of the
> Commentary gives us a world that contains New Wye, Cedarn, and a number of
> other unreal places – along with Zembla. Is this all part of CK/VB’s
> delusion? Has CK/VB invented a fanciful geography for his adopted country, in
> addition to a fanciful country of origin? There’s an interesting passage in
> the commentary to line 287 in which Sybil tells CK/VB that they are traveling
> to either Wyoming or Utah or Montana. Ten minutes later, Dr. A. tells
> CK/VB “in stolid detail” that in fact the Shades will stay at a ranch at
> Cedarn in Utana on the Idoming border. Thus, within less than a page, we go
> from the geography of our own world to the invented geography of “Pale Fire.”
> We might read this as another attempt to “blur the reality” of what
> happens in the novel, confronting us with mutually exclusive geographies in
> the same way that both Zembla and not-Zembla appear to coexist.
>
>
>
> The question remains, though, how Kinbote and not-Kinbote (that is,
> Botkin) can coexist. I’ll take Jerry Friedman’s question “Is Botkin straight
> or gay?” as a shortened form of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">all
> the questions I have about Botkin. What they really amount to is: Is V.
> Botkin the Great Beaver? Is he the flamboyant character we know as Charles
> Kinbote? Is that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">all he is? Is there
> another personality called “Botkin” who leads some other, presumably
> quieter, life? Understanding these questions might take us a long way toward
> incorporating Botkin into the novel’s world.
>
>
>
> Best,
>
>
>
> John
>
>
>
>
>
I find this very interesting. My own theory is that Botkin was a professor
at another college who was involved in a sex scandal that wrecked his
career there. He was married, and that went down the drain as a result. He had
some money (the "powerful Kramler") and some connections and was able to
land a job, perhaps temporary, at Wordsmith. His ex-wife may have lived in
Washington, as he reports a mysterious trip there in his notes. As a result of
the scandal, he may have changed his name to get the other job, or that may
have been a result of his madness. Thus, Zembla is a metaphor for the
school he previously taught at and presumably had tenure (like a king) at.
Perhaps there was some kind of witch hunt that caused him to leave the place,
and this led to the Zembla delusions, which mostly seem to come from the
novels of Anthony Hope and Elinor Glyn and a lot of bad movies from the 20s. By
the time he is at Wordsmith he has changed his name by inverting it
(remember that "inversion" is an old term). The visiting professor may be
attempting to "sound him out" re. the depths of his delusion, but Gerald Emerald (not
the most reliable source, btw) does go to an encyclopedia to find an
article on Zembla. Maybe it exists, maybe not. If there is in fact a "real"
Zembla with a king-in-hiding, Botkin has latched onto it as part of his madness.
We do know that Kinbote/Botkin was in fact a reputable scholar who,
according to Shade, wrote a book on surnames. One of these days I hope to be able
to put all of these speculations into some kind of more coherent form.
Kinbote's reflections on his religion and on the suffering of his ex-wife are
the parts of the novel I find most disturbing emotionally, and I don't think
there is any faking on VN's part here. The man sees himself as a sinner and
is guilty about the results of his behavior, though not strong enough to
change it. The "reality" of Botkin, who morphs into Kinbote/Charles X., is
part of the novel's fascinating puzzle--as are such minor things as the
references to Donald O'Donnell (Odon and, perhaps, Nodo) and others, who may have
been "real" characters who have also morphed into their parts in Kinbote's
delusions.
Another thought: when Shade says that he may have guessed Kinbote's
"secret," he may be referring to the fact that Kinbote is the disgraced Botkin, not
Charles X.
Incidentally, has anyone ever thought about CK's odd comment about "Zemblan
anatomy"? Huh?
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/