Subject
Zenda, Lukin
From
Date
Body
>
> Side remark: the birthday of Gradus is the same as of Shade, > if we believe
Kinbote - but why should we?
Dear Sergei Soloviev,
Gradus, Kinbote and Shade all share the same birthday.
But you pose an interesting question - - why should we believe Kinbote? He
is our only source of most of the information we have about - - well, nearly
everything. If you dismiss his commentary, you are left with only the poem.
Can we believe the poem?
I think a more productive question might be - - when should we believe
Kinbote? and when should we believe Shade?
e) Anoter side remark: Lukin (rather, Lukina for a woman) is a very common
russian surname, I have a friend who has it.
Thanks for support on this.
I also think that VN must have read (or seen the film?)* of Zenda, and there
are some references to it as you indicated. I was only able to find one
tentative verbal link: Shade's "eggspoon" makes appears in the opening scene
of Zenda. But that could be coincidence.
Carolyn
*All of the multiple personality stories that VN refers to in Pale Fire were
made into films (The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Three Faces of Eve, Jeckyll
& Hyde and The Prisoner of Zenda).
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
> Side remark: the birthday of Gradus is the same as of Shade, > if we believe
Kinbote - but why should we?
Dear Sergei Soloviev,
Gradus, Kinbote and Shade all share the same birthday.
But you pose an interesting question - - why should we believe Kinbote? He
is our only source of most of the information we have about - - well, nearly
everything. If you dismiss his commentary, you are left with only the poem.
Can we believe the poem?
I think a more productive question might be - - when should we believe
Kinbote? and when should we believe Shade?
e) Anoter side remark: Lukin (rather, Lukina for a woman) is a very common
russian surname, I have a friend who has it.
Thanks for support on this.
I also think that VN must have read (or seen the film?)* of Zenda, and there
are some references to it as you indicated. I was only able to find one
tentative verbal link: Shade's "eggspoon" makes appears in the opening scene
of Zenda. But that could be coincidence.
Carolyn
*All of the multiple personality stories that VN refers to in Pale Fire were
made into films (The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Three Faces of Eve, Jeckyll
& Hyde and The Prisoner of Zenda).
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