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Fw: reply to Mr Rabiee re: Pnin in pale fire
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reply to Mr Rabiee re: Pnin in pale fire
----- Original Message -----
From: Carolyn Kunin
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum
Sent: Friday, January 24, 2003 11:32 AM
Subject: reply to Mr Rabiee re: Pnin in pale fire
But remember, also, that Kinbote may indeed be Shade himself...so what does this say about Shade? Is Shade another VNt, working against Pnin instead of for him?
Dear Mr Rabiee,
Since Shade = Kinbote in my pet theory, I have given your question some thought.
If Shade = Kinbote is true the way I understand it, Kinbote only has an existence separate from Shade for a comparatively short spell of time (July 21 1959 - late October 1959). Prior to Shade's "death" Kinbote only exists in "Zembla," somewhere in Shade's suppressed sub-consciousness. But why would Shade resent Pnin, even subconsciously?
VN (author) has made one person's name in Pale Fire intriguingly ambiguous. Caroline Lukin, Shade's mother's maiden name, is possibly, as Kinbote says, of English extraction. But Lukins exist in Russia as well, so it is possible that "the american scholar of russian descent" is Shade. If Shade harbors any jealousy towards Pnin, who apparently constitutes the whole of the Russian Department, it does not become a conscious feeling until Shade's stroke liberates the alter ego Kinbote who speaks Russian. Shade, in my theory, has suppressed any knowledge of that language.
Shade never mentions Pnin and is probably only marginally aware of his existence.
Carolyn Kunin
----- Original Message -----
From: Carolyn Kunin
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum
Sent: Friday, January 24, 2003 11:32 AM
Subject: reply to Mr Rabiee re: Pnin in pale fire
But remember, also, that Kinbote may indeed be Shade himself...so what does this say about Shade? Is Shade another VNt, working against Pnin instead of for him?
Dear Mr Rabiee,
Since Shade = Kinbote in my pet theory, I have given your question some thought.
If Shade = Kinbote is true the way I understand it, Kinbote only has an existence separate from Shade for a comparatively short spell of time (July 21 1959 - late October 1959). Prior to Shade's "death" Kinbote only exists in "Zembla," somewhere in Shade's suppressed sub-consciousness. But why would Shade resent Pnin, even subconsciously?
VN (author) has made one person's name in Pale Fire intriguingly ambiguous. Caroline Lukin, Shade's mother's maiden name, is possibly, as Kinbote says, of English extraction. But Lukins exist in Russia as well, so it is possible that "the american scholar of russian descent" is Shade. If Shade harbors any jealousy towards Pnin, who apparently constitutes the whole of the Russian Department, it does not become a conscious feeling until Shade's stroke liberates the alter ego Kinbote who speaks Russian. Shade, in my theory, has suppressed any knowledge of that language.
Shade never mentions Pnin and is probably only marginally aware of his existence.
Carolyn Kunin