Subject
Re: THOUGHTS re: NYHT Interview
From
Date
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In a message dated 3/27/2008 9:24:09 PM Central Daylight Time,
morris.jr@COMCAST.NET writes:
>
>
> “1) There is no ‘Zembla’ in the world of Pale Fire, no magazine articles
> about it, no acceptance of it in conversation among faculty members. Botkin is
> confabulating when he describes Shade's relationship with him in regard to ‘
> Zembla,’ for the place exists nowhere save in Botkin's fantasies, which he
> does not share with Shade or anyone else. We must substitute ‘Russia’ for ‘
> Zembla’ whenever the latter appears in the text in order to understand what
> Botkin and Shade are really talking about -- if, indeed, they talk about anything
> at all.
>
Since we know Shade's (and other faculty members') views of Zembla only from
Kinbote's point of view, wouldn't it be likely that they are all indulging the
fantasy of a deranged colleague (Botkin, who has gone mad)? It is very hard
even now to fire a tenured faculty member (assuming that Botkin has tenure).
In not so distant years my university put up with several alcoholics and
madmen until they began to neglect their professional duties or abuse their
students, at which point there was "due cause" to dismiss them, but, even then, they
were assigned to alternative duties until they were old enough to retire. The
AAUP has existed for a long time, and VN surely knew that it was very
difficult to get rid of an incompetent.
I do believe that Botkin/Kinbote has shared his fantasies with Shade, who
finds them fascinating (Who wouldn't?).
>
>
> “2) Zembla is a real place in the world of Pale Fire, and Kinbote is saying
> and doing all the things he claims, except that he is known as V. Botkin,
> i.e., Zembla is real but ‘Charles Kinbote’ is not on the faculty of Wordsmith.
> The confabulation in the commentary consists in the use of the name ‘Charles
> Kinbote.’
>
>
Zembla is part of Botkin's fantasy. It does not exist except in his
fantasies. But in the world of Charles Kinbote it is real. The note to l. 894 shows
an encounter between the world of Botkin and the "real" world. Gerald Emerald
goes to get the encyclopedia, true, but remember that this is still related
from Kinbote's pov.
>
> “3) Zembla is real, and so too is Kinbote, in the sense that ‘Kinbote’ is
> a sustained delusion of a Russian faculty member, which delusion is
> inexplicably tolerated at Wordsmith, and encouraged by Shade. Botkin lets it be known
> that he is ‘really’ Charles Kinbote, who is ‘really’ the exiled King of
> Zembla.”
>
>
>
"Inexplicably" is the key word here. In my 40 years in academia I have seen
delusions as strange as Kinbote's, including that of a former colleague who
had to be institutionalized after going to the local police claiming that he was
Hamlet and being pursued by enemies. He finished out his academic service,
after some shock therapy, and retired to his bottle. One might consider the
behavior of such poets as Lowell and Berryman before concluding that an academic
career can easily be terminated because of bizarre behavior. I have seen,
over the years, that English departments are extremely wary of even firing
incompetent untenured faculty members.
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
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morris.jr@COMCAST.NET writes:
>
>
> “1) There is no ‘Zembla’ in the world of Pale Fire, no magazine articles
> about it, no acceptance of it in conversation among faculty members. Botkin is
> confabulating when he describes Shade's relationship with him in regard to ‘
> Zembla,’ for the place exists nowhere save in Botkin's fantasies, which he
> does not share with Shade or anyone else. We must substitute ‘Russia’ for ‘
> Zembla’ whenever the latter appears in the text in order to understand what
> Botkin and Shade are really talking about -- if, indeed, they talk about anything
> at all.
>
Since we know Shade's (and other faculty members') views of Zembla only from
Kinbote's point of view, wouldn't it be likely that they are all indulging the
fantasy of a deranged colleague (Botkin, who has gone mad)? It is very hard
even now to fire a tenured faculty member (assuming that Botkin has tenure).
In not so distant years my university put up with several alcoholics and
madmen until they began to neglect their professional duties or abuse their
students, at which point there was "due cause" to dismiss them, but, even then, they
were assigned to alternative duties until they were old enough to retire. The
AAUP has existed for a long time, and VN surely knew that it was very
difficult to get rid of an incompetent.
I do believe that Botkin/Kinbote has shared his fantasies with Shade, who
finds them fascinating (Who wouldn't?).
>
>
> “2) Zembla is a real place in the world of Pale Fire, and Kinbote is saying
> and doing all the things he claims, except that he is known as V. Botkin,
> i.e., Zembla is real but ‘Charles Kinbote’ is not on the faculty of Wordsmith.
> The confabulation in the commentary consists in the use of the name ‘Charles
> Kinbote.’
>
>
Zembla is part of Botkin's fantasy. It does not exist except in his
fantasies. But in the world of Charles Kinbote it is real. The note to l. 894 shows
an encounter between the world of Botkin and the "real" world. Gerald Emerald
goes to get the encyclopedia, true, but remember that this is still related
from Kinbote's pov.
>
> “3) Zembla is real, and so too is Kinbote, in the sense that ‘Kinbote’ is
> a sustained delusion of a Russian faculty member, which delusion is
> inexplicably tolerated at Wordsmith, and encouraged by Shade. Botkin lets it be known
> that he is ‘really’ Charles Kinbote, who is ‘really’ the exiled King of
> Zembla.”
>
>
>
"Inexplicably" is the key word here. In my 40 years in academia I have seen
delusions as strange as Kinbote's, including that of a former colleague who
had to be institutionalized after going to the local police claiming that he was
Hamlet and being pursued by enemies. He finished out his academic service,
after some shock therapy, and retired to his bottle. One might consider the
behavior of such poets as Lowell and Berryman before concluding that an academic
career can easily be terminated because of bizarre behavior. I have seen,
over the years, that English departments are extremely wary of even firing
incompetent untenured faculty members.
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