Subject
BIRTHDAY ANNC: Forthcoming "facsimile" edition of John Shade's
manuscript
manuscript
From
Date
Body
[EDNOTE. Gingko Press is the publisher that produced Jean Holabird's lovely edition of VN's synaesthetic alphabet. -- SES]
R. S. Gwynn reports:
I agree with this and have written an essay, as has Brian Boyd, which will serve as introductions to a "facsimile" edition of Shade's notecard manuscript to be published by Gingko Press. I think that "Pale Fire" is VN's most serious attempt at poetry in English and a pretty good poem. VN covers his own tracks by making it clear that Shade is a poet who is respected but not quite at the forefront of American poetry. He does something similar in TRLOSK by masking his uncertainty as a writer of English prose in a memoir "written" by an amateur who has to take lessons in prose writing. VN himself said that composing "PF" was the hardest writing he'd ever done.
vanveen13@SBCGLOBAL.NET writes:
I rather like Twigg's reading here quite a bit. I actually think I've been suggesting something like this, except I hadn't thought of casting in quite so elegant, and eloquent, a fashion such a very cold eye indeed on the figure of Shade and his poem. I'm rather more doubtful, however, that Nabokov intended Shade's poem to be bad; it's not bad. Maybe not great, but there a few terrific patches. I have to say, I'm also surprised so many people on the list seem to find Shade's character so suspicious and unpleasant, since by Nabokovian standards he is, with the exception of Pnin, the kindest, most optimistic, least egocentric, best adjusted of any of his characters, but I suppose this is a judgment call. And I believe that Nabokov did refer to Shade in interviews as one of his positive, and not perverse characters. I'll search for it. Also, I keep thinking of a scene from Stacy Shciff's bio Vera. During possibly the most interesting part of the book, while Nabokov was composing Shade's poem, he and his wife were visited by an intriguing neurotic woman by the name of Filippa Rolf early in 1961. At one point he asks her if she'd like to hear what he's been working on. "He had been complaining that he was trying to make the thing obscure, a difficult task as he was by nature so eminently lucid. Vera and Rolf sat together on the couch as Vladimir, from his armchair, recited the first two cantos of Pale Fire , his voice swelling "like a happy church organ." Was it moving? he asked when he had finished. It was very much meant to be. The three were nearly drunk on his poetry; Vera's face was wet afterward, glistening with sweat and tears. Out into the street they spilled after discussing the work, Rolf singing, Vladimir shouting, "What a delightful evening, what a perfectly wonderful evening!" (Vera, hardcover, p278) All this is attributed to a letter written by Rolf January 16th of '61. Certainly this would seem to suggest pretty heavily that Nabokov did not intend this poem to be bad. Ah, I found the quote from Nabokov I was looking for in Strong Opinions. Pg 119, he is rather sillily asked: "Would it be fair to say that you see life as very funny but cruel joke?" After questioning the use of the word "life" for almost a page, Nabokov says this: "As to the lives of my characters, not all are grotesque and not all are tragic: Fyodor in The Gift is blessed with a faithful love and an early recognition of his genuius; Joh Shade in Pale Fire leads an intense inner existence, far removed from what you call a joke." Although this doesn't competely refute Twigg's understanding of N's "intention" as concerns John Shade's character and work, I think it strongly suggests a rethinking.
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R. S. Gwynn reports:
I agree with this and have written an essay, as has Brian Boyd, which will serve as introductions to a "facsimile" edition of Shade's notecard manuscript to be published by Gingko Press. I think that "Pale Fire" is VN's most serious attempt at poetry in English and a pretty good poem. VN covers his own tracks by making it clear that Shade is a poet who is respected but not quite at the forefront of American poetry. He does something similar in TRLOSK by masking his uncertainty as a writer of English prose in a memoir "written" by an amateur who has to take lessons in prose writing. VN himself said that composing "PF" was the hardest writing he'd ever done.
vanveen13@SBCGLOBAL.NET writes:
I rather like Twigg's reading here quite a bit. I actually think I've been suggesting something like this, except I hadn't thought of casting in quite so elegant, and eloquent, a fashion such a very cold eye indeed on the figure of Shade and his poem. I'm rather more doubtful, however, that Nabokov intended Shade's poem to be bad; it's not bad. Maybe not great, but there a few terrific patches. I have to say, I'm also surprised so many people on the list seem to find Shade's character so suspicious and unpleasant, since by Nabokovian standards he is, with the exception of Pnin, the kindest, most optimistic, least egocentric, best adjusted of any of his characters, but I suppose this is a judgment call. And I believe that Nabokov did refer to Shade in interviews as one of his positive, and not perverse characters. I'll search for it. Also, I keep thinking of a scene from Stacy Shciff's bio Vera. During possibly the most interesting part of the book, while Nabokov was composing Shade's poem, he and his wife were visited by an intriguing neurotic woman by the name of Filippa Rolf early in 1961. At one point he asks her if she'd like to hear what he's been working on. "He had been complaining that he was trying to make the thing obscure, a difficult task as he was by nature so eminently lucid. Vera and Rolf sat together on the couch as Vladimir, from his armchair, recited the first two cantos of Pale Fire , his voice swelling "like a happy church organ." Was it moving? he asked when he had finished. It was very much meant to be. The three were nearly drunk on his poetry; Vera's face was wet afterward, glistening with sweat and tears. Out into the street they spilled after discussing the work, Rolf singing, Vladimir shouting, "What a delightful evening, what a perfectly wonderful evening!" (Vera, hardcover, p278) All this is attributed to a letter written by Rolf January 16th of '61. Certainly this would seem to suggest pretty heavily that Nabokov did not intend this poem to be bad. Ah, I found the quote from Nabokov I was looking for in Strong Opinions. Pg 119, he is rather sillily asked: "Would it be fair to say that you see life as very funny but cruel joke?" After questioning the use of the word "life" for almost a page, Nabokov says this: "As to the lives of my characters, not all are grotesque and not all are tragic: Fyodor in The Gift is blessed with a faithful love and an early recognition of his genuius; Joh Shade in Pale Fire leads an intense inner existence, far removed from what you call a joke." Although this doesn't competely refute Twigg's understanding of N's "intention" as concerns John Shade's character and work, I think it strongly suggests a rethinking.
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/