Subject
it's in here ,,, somewhere ,,,
From
Date
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I know it's in here somewhere I will try to make it more legible and
less strange ... Well nikto/Botkin/but not Botkine/ comes at the end
and I have placed it in italics, but since I find the rest of it
interesting, maybe others of the list might as well (or 'might's well'
as my silly Viennese mother used to say!)
Carolyn
----- Original Message -----
From: "Carolyn Kunin" <[log in to unmask]To: "Vladimir Nabokov Forum"
<[log in to unmask]Sent: Sunday, September 01, 2002 11:44 AM Subject:
more on Maude/Countess/maps/ditches (note to line 80) & Nobody
Kinbote's note to "line 80: my bedroom" is very interesting in
several respects. If Kinbote = Shade, and Countess de Fyler = Aunt
Maude, the proof will probably be found in a plotting out of the
Shade house and comparison to the description of rooms in the palace.
The Countess's odd death in 1950 is recounted within a page of the
"note to lines 86-90: Aunt Maude (1869-1950)."
Nabokov was fond of using maps himself in literary analysis, and I
suspect that if anyone could succeed in mapping out New Wye and the
Shade house some murkiness might clear up. I am not good at spatial
imagining and hope someone on the List will be willing to give it a
go. I don't think we know enough about the Goldsworth chateau yet to
say if it really exists. There
are some hints that it might not, both in the poem and the notes.
There are many references to ditches that don't seem to lead anywhere.
In pursuing my theory that Shade/Kinbote might be
dual personalities I read "The Three Faces of Eve" (1957), and found
there a possible link. Eve's shattering traumatic experiences had to
do with fear of death and encountering two corpses: first that of a
dead body she saw dragged out of a ditch, and secondly the corpse of
her grandmother as it lay in state. sickly physical fear of her
phantom." What he says next, "
If the reference to ditches is a link to "The Three Faces of Eve," then
the
> corpse may also be indirectly detected in the note to line 80.
Following
his
> mother's death Kinbote's "hopeless and helpless remorse degenerated
into a
> sickly physical fear of her phantom." What he says next, "The
Countess who
> seemed to be near him, to be rustling at his side ..." will remind
anyone
> who has read the story of Pushkin's "Queen of Spades," in which the
hero
has
> encounters with both the rustling ghost and winking corpse of the
old
> Countess, who he has unintentionally killed. He, too, ends up in
the mad
> house.
Note on Nikto b' - Kinbote and Botkin are near anagrams. But not
quite. Why not? Nabokov could just as easily have used the French
spelling, Botkine. I do think this is a clue that Botkin is irrelevant
("Nikto b'" could be translated as "he wouldn't be anybody" or "he
would be nobody" recalling the March Hare who saw "Nobody" coming
down the road and was admired for his
excellent eyesight. Kinbote = Botkin = Nobody doesn't solve the
puzzle.
Carolyn Kunin
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less strange ... Well nikto/Botkin/but not Botkine/ comes at the end
and I have placed it in italics, but since I find the rest of it
interesting, maybe others of the list might as well (or 'might's well'
as my silly Viennese mother used to say!)
Carolyn
----- Original Message -----
From: "Carolyn Kunin" <[log in to unmask]To: "Vladimir Nabokov Forum"
<[log in to unmask]Sent: Sunday, September 01, 2002 11:44 AM Subject:
more on Maude/Countess/maps/ditches (note to line 80) & Nobody
Kinbote's note to "line 80: my bedroom" is very interesting in
several respects. If Kinbote = Shade, and Countess de Fyler = Aunt
Maude, the proof will probably be found in a plotting out of the
Shade house and comparison to the description of rooms in the palace.
The Countess's odd death in 1950 is recounted within a page of the
"note to lines 86-90: Aunt Maude (1869-1950)."
Nabokov was fond of using maps himself in literary analysis, and I
suspect that if anyone could succeed in mapping out New Wye and the
Shade house some murkiness might clear up. I am not good at spatial
imagining and hope someone on the List will be willing to give it a
go. I don't think we know enough about the Goldsworth chateau yet to
say if it really exists. There
are some hints that it might not, both in the poem and the notes.
There are many references to ditches that don't seem to lead anywhere.
In pursuing my theory that Shade/Kinbote might be
dual personalities I read "The Three Faces of Eve" (1957), and found
there a possible link. Eve's shattering traumatic experiences had to
do with fear of death and encountering two corpses: first that of a
dead body she saw dragged out of a ditch, and secondly the corpse of
her grandmother as it lay in state. sickly physical fear of her
phantom." What he says next, "
If the reference to ditches is a link to "The Three Faces of Eve," then
the
> corpse may also be indirectly detected in the note to line 80.
Following
his
> mother's death Kinbote's "hopeless and helpless remorse degenerated
into a
> sickly physical fear of her phantom." What he says next, "The
Countess who
> seemed to be near him, to be rustling at his side ..." will remind
anyone
> who has read the story of Pushkin's "Queen of Spades," in which the
hero
has
> encounters with both the rustling ghost and winking corpse of the
old
> Countess, who he has unintentionally killed. He, too, ends up in
the mad
> house.
Note on Nikto b' - Kinbote and Botkin are near anagrams. But not
quite. Why not? Nabokov could just as easily have used the French
spelling, Botkine. I do think this is a clue that Botkin is irrelevant
("Nikto b'" could be translated as "he wouldn't be anybody" or "he
would be nobody" recalling the March Hare who saw "Nobody" coming
down the road and was admired for his
excellent eyesight. Kinbote = Botkin = Nobody doesn't solve the
puzzle.
Carolyn Kunin
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
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/