Matthew Roth wrote to JM: I have several
times tried to piece together this Sutton information, which you have nicely
delineated. I also agree with JF that the names are likely Sutcliff and Clifton.
But I'm puzzled by your conclusion here:"I conclude the other is a psychiatrist,
called in to help Hazel and never mentioned by Shade." Kinbote says in 230
that because the Shade's disliked "modern voodoo-psychiatry" they "could not do
much about" the situation. This suggests to me that John & Sybil did not
consult a psychiatrist at all; therefore, psychiatry could not have been Dr.
Sutton's field. Or are you saying that because Sutton was "old-fashioned," he
may not have been a "modern, voodoo" psychiatrist but instead a more reliable
sort?
JM: I'm not familiar
with the names Sutcliff and Clifton, probably world famous American doctors whom
VN expects his readers to know about. Kinbote, who introduces two medical doctors under
an assumed "Sutton portmanteau", could be misleading the
reader. Shade's neighbor might have been any kind of "doctor". My
more prosaic search landed me in a book published in the early
nineteen-twenties, by Gerald Massey ( Ancient Egypt, the Light of the
World), who wrote about old creation tales, the fall and paradise.
According to him "Tai Hao corresponds to Sut,
the inventor of astronomy and ruler of the first pole-star...These are
the seven in the constellation of the Lesser Bear who follow the bier or coffin
of their lord, Osiris, in the Greater Bear." I had been astronomically wondering about the
name Sutton ( and a daughter called Mrs. Starr) mainly because of the references
in the poem that associate Sutton's windows, night and special
stars.
Taking Kinbote by his word I noticed that
a medical Dr. Sutton was consulted "in secret" by a desperate parent. This
is why I imagined him to be the old kind of "know-all psychiatrist."
And yet, like Dr. Colt, he might have been a local general practitioner with
"wise opinions".
The other doctor Shade himself mentions,
almost angrily, is Dr.Colt (a depreciative name): And
though old doctor Colt pronounced me cured/ Of what, he said, were mainly growing
pains,/ The wonder lingers and the shame
remains.His son might be the Colt that visits Shade on his birthday
party ( if we can trust Kinbote, that is): CK: "Oh,
I saw them all. I saw ancient Dr. Sutton... with his tall daughter, Mrs.
Starr, a war widow. I saw a couple, later identified for me as Mr. Colt,
a local lawyer, and his wife, whose blundering Cadillac half entered my
driveway before retreating in a flurry of luminous nictitation. / / CK ask Sybil and quotes her
words: how
did the party go? ... people whom you’ve known all your life and simply must invite once a year, men like Ben
Kaplun and Dick Colt with whom we went to
school, and that Washington cousin..."