Subject
Re: On symmetry and Kinbote
From
Date
Body
[EDNOTE. Jerry Friedman continues a dialogue with Carolyn Kunin on his
three Pale Fire questions
and on instances of symmetry in Kinbote's commentary. -- SES]
Dear Carolyn,
I also persist in not communicating very well. On the subject
of states, my question is not about Cedarn but why Sybil mentions
real states and Kinbote shortly afterward mentions what look
like fictional versions of the same states (plus Idaho). On the
subject of palindromes, I meant Kinbote's "Please, dip, or
redip, spider" (note to line 181). Of course, Kinbote may have
stolen that palindrome from Shade's description of Hazel and added
it to his memory of his Proustian encounter with Sibyl (if the
encounter happened at all).
On the subject of cedarn waxwings, I'm pleased with what I
found, which I posted at (excessive) length on April 26, 1998.
I see now that Boyd had connected Cedarn and waxwings
the previous year in "Shade and Shape in /Pale Fire/", so I
should have done a little research, but I still don't know of
anyone who connected them with the junipers before I did.
Speaking of Boyd, I've been glancing at his book on PF, and
I noticed he found another symmetry (I may be getting
a little far from the meaning) on which Shade and Kinbote
collaborated. There's a shadow in the first line of the
poem, and the first index entry is about a Shadow. Boyd
attributes the latter to Shade's shade's influence on
Kinbote.
Of course you've been one of many to note ways in which Zembla
mirrors New Wye, so in that sense /Pale Fire/ is full of
distorted symmetry. The book's world mirrors ours, and I can't
be the only one who interprets that as indicating that our "game"
palely reflects the empyrean of "those who played it".
On the subject of codes, I wasn't really suggesting one, and if
there's significance in the italics and roman type, I can't
imagine what it is. (Now why do I have the feeling that
you've mentioned those type changes? I see Brian Boyd mentioned
them in the archives on April 2, 2001.)
I don't see K. and S. getting confused in the Index entry on
Shade. A lot of the pronouns do indeed refer to Kinbote, but
they always have an antecedent in an earlier K. I took that
as more of his egoism. (In your theory, is it egoism if
someone fulsomely admires his other personality? Maybe
Kinbote suffers from alteregoism.)
Yes, it's interesting that the letter C can sound like both
K and S (and it looks like, and is etymologically related to,
G). But at that level you can konnekt everything with
everything elce.
Jerry Friedman
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
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
three Pale Fire questions
and on instances of symmetry in Kinbote's commentary. -- SES]
Dear Carolyn,
I also persist in not communicating very well. On the subject
of states, my question is not about Cedarn but why Sybil mentions
real states and Kinbote shortly afterward mentions what look
like fictional versions of the same states (plus Idaho). On the
subject of palindromes, I meant Kinbote's "Please, dip, or
redip, spider" (note to line 181). Of course, Kinbote may have
stolen that palindrome from Shade's description of Hazel and added
it to his memory of his Proustian encounter with Sibyl (if the
encounter happened at all).
On the subject of cedarn waxwings, I'm pleased with what I
found, which I posted at (excessive) length on April 26, 1998.
I see now that Boyd had connected Cedarn and waxwings
the previous year in "Shade and Shape in /Pale Fire/", so I
should have done a little research, but I still don't know of
anyone who connected them with the junipers before I did.
Speaking of Boyd, I've been glancing at his book on PF, and
I noticed he found another symmetry (I may be getting
a little far from the meaning) on which Shade and Kinbote
collaborated. There's a shadow in the first line of the
poem, and the first index entry is about a Shadow. Boyd
attributes the latter to Shade's shade's influence on
Kinbote.
Of course you've been one of many to note ways in which Zembla
mirrors New Wye, so in that sense /Pale Fire/ is full of
distorted symmetry. The book's world mirrors ours, and I can't
be the only one who interprets that as indicating that our "game"
palely reflects the empyrean of "those who played it".
On the subject of codes, I wasn't really suggesting one, and if
there's significance in the italics and roman type, I can't
imagine what it is. (Now why do I have the feeling that
you've mentioned those type changes? I see Brian Boyd mentioned
them in the archives on April 2, 2001.)
I don't see K. and S. getting confused in the Index entry on
Shade. A lot of the pronouns do indeed refer to Kinbote, but
they always have an antecedent in an earlier K. I took that
as more of his egoism. (In your theory, is it egoism if
someone fulsomely admires his other personality? Maybe
Kinbote suffers from alteregoism.)
Yes, it's interesting that the letter C can sound like both
K and S (and it looks like, and is etymologically related to,
G). But at that level you can konnekt everything with
everything elce.
Jerry Friedman
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
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