Subject
Re: Location of New Wye
From
Date
Body
Yes, very nice indeed, and I wish it was mine -- it's from the same poem ("An Evening of Russian Poetry") in which VN speaks of that "Russian something" in West Virginia.
Of course I meant the beaver business as a joke, but I love Brian Jobe's notion, which I interpret liberally to mean: Wherever goes the Great Beaver, there lies the Beaver State. In fact, I can't improve on his assertion that "New Wye is located in Pale Fire, nowhere else." That's what I was getting at by starting my post with "If New Wye must be anywhere..." While it's all good fun to scrutinize the text for clues, the world of Pale Fire (most especially including Zembla) is a magical creation of VN's imagination.
Oh, and Matt Roth: Yes, I see what you mean about "descent"; good thought. Diction aside, though, if Botkin is important to the story of Pale Fire, surely he has to be an exile like Kinbote -- otherwise, what's the point of him? Would a regular American guy go mad in that fashion? In my opinion there's a lot that still needs clarifying about Botkin's role in Pale Fire, but at the very least, don't we need to view him as a "real Russian" exile, in order for him to stand in for/stand behind/be the actual personage/(choose your phrase) vis a vis the "unreal Zemblan" exile Kinbote?
Regards,
J. Morris
That description, "between an orchard and a veil of tepid rain" is very nice indeed, but New Wye is located in Pale Fire, nowhere else, no more than Cedarn is actually in Utah or Montana. Kinbote's final motel may well have been in Oregon, but without a doubt it was in "the Beaver State", and my guess is that the nickname is probably more important than a geographical and political region within the U.S. to which it may or may not correspond.
Best,
Brian Jobe
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
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
Of course I meant the beaver business as a joke, but I love Brian Jobe's notion, which I interpret liberally to mean: Wherever goes the Great Beaver, there lies the Beaver State. In fact, I can't improve on his assertion that "New Wye is located in Pale Fire, nowhere else." That's what I was getting at by starting my post with "If New Wye must be anywhere..." While it's all good fun to scrutinize the text for clues, the world of Pale Fire (most especially including Zembla) is a magical creation of VN's imagination.
Oh, and Matt Roth: Yes, I see what you mean about "descent"; good thought. Diction aside, though, if Botkin is important to the story of Pale Fire, surely he has to be an exile like Kinbote -- otherwise, what's the point of him? Would a regular American guy go mad in that fashion? In my opinion there's a lot that still needs clarifying about Botkin's role in Pale Fire, but at the very least, don't we need to view him as a "real Russian" exile, in order for him to stand in for/stand behind/be the actual personage/(choose your phrase) vis a vis the "unreal Zemblan" exile Kinbote?
Regards,
J. Morris
That description, "between an orchard and a veil of tepid rain" is very nice indeed, but New Wye is located in Pale Fire, nowhere else, no more than Cedarn is actually in Utah or Montana. Kinbote's final motel may well have been in Oregon, but without a doubt it was in "the Beaver State", and my guess is that the nickname is probably more important than a geographical and political region within the U.S. to which it may or may not correspond.
Best,
Brian Jobe
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
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