Kinbote writes about July 11th, "the night of great
need":
"It was a hot, black, blustery night. I stole
through the shrubbery to the rear of their house. At first I thought that this
fourth side was also dark... a little back parlor where I had never been"
(CK,lines 47-48)
The fourth side of Shade's house, the
rear, was unobservable by Kinbote, unless he went out in the
garden.
I'm unfamiliar with American architecture and
"back parlors" , but logic allows me to suppose that these rooms
at the rear of a house should be close to a "backyard".
And yet, in the Foreword, Kinbote informs us that
he could see Shade burning drafts in a "back-yard auto-da-fé" - from his porch (
Judge Goldsworth's porch).
Can anyone clarify my
confusion?