Someone quoted Nabokov in a blog and chose to
represent him through Kinbote.
After I compared Shade's words ( in a poem) with
Kinbote's (a footnote), I decidedly preferred CK's.
When I set both lines side by side I
realized something I hadn't noticed before: Shade writes a poem about
"life as a poem," whereas Kinbote's footnote is about "life
as a footnote" Neat.
Kinbote's rendering is equally applicable
to TOoL, although who authors the "unfinished masterpiece" remains
undisclosable.
Man’s life as commentary to abstruse
Unfinished poem. Note for
further use.
(John Shade, PF,lines 939-40)
“…our
poet suggests here that human life is but a series of footnotes to a vast obscure unfinished
masterpiece.”
(Charles Kinbote, footnote to lines
939-40)