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Nabokov's cats: the case of Hodge in Pale Fire
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Jansy Mello writes:
Fortunately also Nabokov´s cat was not Schrödinger´s (potentially both dead and alive) nor poor Hodge, mentioned by VN in Pale Fire in a quote from James Boswell: "But Hodge shan´t be shot: no, no, Hodge shall not be shot". It seems that Hodge actually was not Samuel Johnson´s favourite cat. Any explanation for this curious quote is welcome!
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EDNOTE. A search of the archives suggests that this question regularly surfaces on NABOKV-L but has never been conclusively settled. Here's a sampling of earlier comments.
In April 2000 someone posted this entry from the New York Times Nabokov discussion forum:
"The epigraph, and the book, are about eluding death (among other things) by a madman. It is perfectly obscure and obscurely perfect. [. . .] In Pale Fire, there is the shooting of Shade by the mad Jack Grey, who mistakes Shade for the judge next door who put him away; Kinbote, of course, thinks the assassin Jacob Gradus mistook Shade for himself, the exiled King of Zembla. Did Kinbote cheat death -- or did Shade? Did he really die? Has he transformed himself into Kinbote or, as the new theory has it, inspired Kinbote from beyond the grave? And has Kinbote's rather murderous interpretation of Shade's poem ruined the poet's legacy -- or has the contrast, in perspective, alerted us to the meaning of the poem? [. . .] One wonders what role this quote played in the composition process -- did it occur to him after he wrote the book, or during, or before?"
In August 2000, Brian Boyd remarked, in an interview about Pale Fire conducted by Tom Bolt: "Johnson's assurance that Hodge will not be shot prefigures Nabokov's knowledge that his favorite, Shade, will not really die. That's MY best shot at the moment."
In March 2001, Kevin Troy suggested that "the anecdote illustrates the difference between the modes people operate in when discussing public and private matters, and how quickly and drastically one can switch between them when one discovers that public matters will affect one's private life; what is comic in one instance can be tragic or profound in the other. Kinbote's prose is full of such pendulum-like swings, some of which are through his own reflections, and some of which occur through the ironic distance between the madman and the reader."
In April 2003, Tom Rymour forwarded pictures of a statue of Hodge that had been unveiled in September 1997 by the Lord Mayor of London. In the ensuing discussion, Carolyn Kunin pointed out Gerard de Vries's note on the topic ("Pale Fire and the Life of Johnson: The Case of Hodge and Mystery Lodge," Nabokovian 26 (spring 1991): 44-49), which links the novel's allusion to Johnson to this comment, as quoted by Boswell: "Modern writers are the moons of literature; they shine with reflected light, with light borrowed from the ancients."
In September 2003, someone added that "any theory of the book must explain who is writing this epigraph: Shade, Kinbote, Nabokov?"
Fortunately also Nabokov´s cat was not Schrödinger´s (potentially both dead and alive) nor poor Hodge, mentioned by VN in Pale Fire in a quote from James Boswell: "But Hodge shan´t be shot: no, no, Hodge shall not be shot". It seems that Hodge actually was not Samuel Johnson´s favourite cat. Any explanation for this curious quote is welcome!
***
EDNOTE. A search of the archives suggests that this question regularly surfaces on NABOKV-L but has never been conclusively settled. Here's a sampling of earlier comments.
In April 2000 someone posted this entry from the New York Times Nabokov discussion forum:
"The epigraph, and the book, are about eluding death (among other things) by a madman. It is perfectly obscure and obscurely perfect. [. . .] In Pale Fire, there is the shooting of Shade by the mad Jack Grey, who mistakes Shade for the judge next door who put him away; Kinbote, of course, thinks the assassin Jacob Gradus mistook Shade for himself, the exiled King of Zembla. Did Kinbote cheat death -- or did Shade? Did he really die? Has he transformed himself into Kinbote or, as the new theory has it, inspired Kinbote from beyond the grave? And has Kinbote's rather murderous interpretation of Shade's poem ruined the poet's legacy -- or has the contrast, in perspective, alerted us to the meaning of the poem? [. . .] One wonders what role this quote played in the composition process -- did it occur to him after he wrote the book, or during, or before?"
In August 2000, Brian Boyd remarked, in an interview about Pale Fire conducted by Tom Bolt: "Johnson's assurance that Hodge will not be shot prefigures Nabokov's knowledge that his favorite, Shade, will not really die. That's MY best shot at the moment."
In March 2001, Kevin Troy suggested that "the anecdote illustrates the difference between the modes people operate in when discussing public and private matters, and how quickly and drastically one can switch between them when one discovers that public matters will affect one's private life; what is comic in one instance can be tragic or profound in the other. Kinbote's prose is full of such pendulum-like swings, some of which are through his own reflections, and some of which occur through the ironic distance between the madman and the reader."
In April 2003, Tom Rymour forwarded pictures of a statue of Hodge that had been unveiled in September 1997 by the Lord Mayor of London. In the ensuing discussion, Carolyn Kunin pointed out Gerard de Vries's note on the topic ("Pale Fire and the Life of Johnson: The Case of Hodge and Mystery Lodge," Nabokovian 26 (spring 1991): 44-49), which links the novel's allusion to Johnson to this comment, as quoted by Boswell: "Modern writers are the moons of literature; they shine with reflected light, with light borrowed from the ancients."
In September 2003, someone added that "any theory of the book must explain who is writing this epigraph: Shade, Kinbote, Nabokov?"