Fran Assa: "I understand Robert
Frost was intended to be the model for John Francis Shade in Pale Fire, but I
don't know why people have come to that conclusion. Any
ideas?"
JM:
Kinbote was careful to quote Frost ("I dare not quote
from memory lest I displace one small precious word."). I should have
been equally careful in my last commentary, now in relation
to Shade, who wrote "oozy," not "slimy."[..."as usual just
behind/ (one oozy footstep)
Frost."]. Perhaps what I subconsciously wanted
to avoid was its link to swamps, doom and decay [ CK in his note to line
270 says he's seen a red admirable "feasting on oozy plums" and decaying matter (a dead rabbitt), before
he adds that an "almost tame specimen of it was the last
natural object John Shade pointed out to me as he walked to his doom."]
The mentions to Frost in PF play with
diamonds, snow-crystals and time when the sctructural quality
of Frost's verse is described, together with a metaphysical
inversion of "temperature" from high
into low.
When I was rereading PF and
reached line 501 ( right after Hazel's sinking in a swamp, in a
night of frost), I realized Shade's verses on his experience at
Yewshade begin with "L’if, lifeless tree!" This line seems to deny its connection with IPH
and rebirth, which the Yew symbolizes.
Would the Zemblan word for the yew ("tas")
offer any other indication?*
......................................................................................................................................................................
*www.billcasselman.com/.../sitemap_one.htm (On "Canada Yew)
"Yew gave the spelling heebie-jeebies to the Anglo-Saxons, so that we find
Old English forms like eow, iow, iw, then in Middle
English ew and ewe. Cognates of yew are widespread in the
Indo-European languages and include Old Scandinavian yr, German
Eibe, Welsh yw, Old Irish ibar, Gaelic
iubhar, Old Slavic iva, Gaulish ivos and hence Modern
French if..."
"The yew’s
reputation for long life is due to the unique way in which the tree grows. Its
branches grow down into the ground to form new stems, which then rise up around
the old central growth as separate but linked trunks. After a time, they cannot
be distinguished from the original tree. So the yew has always been a symbol of
death and rebirth, the new that springs out of the
old.”
..........................................................................................................................................
Jerry Friedman: Both the poem and the notes makes it clear that Shade wasn't Frost, so
obviously he must have been. QED! Seriously, in my limited reading of
/Pale Fire/ commentary, I don't remember anything that said Frost was the model
for Shade... Frost didn't like to use rare words the way Shade did. And in
my opinion, though Shade has his moments, Frost can be far better--Shade and
Kinbote hit the nail on the head...I find it hard to believe Frost was more than
a small part of Nabokov's inspiration. I think that if he were The
Original of Shade, Nabokov would have researched him
thoroughly...
V. Mylnikov: this is a really strong point and I far as I
understand the nature of Pale Fire, there is no definite prototype or models but
politype and polimodels... I believe John Shade has some features (poetic) from
VN himself, from Robert Frost, from Pushkin etc. but I don't think it is
possible to set a line between them and taxonomy. Again, I think it is a great
question.
M.Glynn:
There are several links - the fact that Frost is invoked by name in
the text (p 41 of Penguin edition) is one factor. Shade is also a Frostian
with his philosophical/transcendental tendencies etc .
JM:"Shade knew quite well that he was "a slimy step
behind" him.I suppose that snow in New England,
school days and puritan childhood must have been quite
different from what Shade experienced in New
Wye."
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exception, are
read by both co-editors.