Brian Boyd is certainly the best authority we
have to learn more about Brian Boyd's PF theory, so I read his latest
message to Nab-L carefully.
I noticed that he doesn't mention anything
related to Shade's ghost influencing Kinbote's hand for the
synchronized appearance of Gradus, or Hazel's inspiring Kinbote's creation
of Zembla. He writes about the importance of ghostly messages (the moving light
in the barn) and of a girl who is unaware of her influence
over different people (Browning's "Pippa Passes") Where does Hazel
come into it?.
I browsed through Dieter Zimmer's
translation of Fahles Feuer with the intention to find
out how Nabokov suggests a translation for the moving light's
message at the Haunted Barn. I had the impression that the
broken words in German were different, or that they emphasized
different items from the English words, perhaps even excluding
"Atalanta"*).
In relation to Hazel and ghosts, Zimmer notes
(FF,417): "Wirkliche Beweise für diese Lesart had Boyd nicht beigebracht. Mich
überzeugt sie auch darum nicht, weil sie zu heftige Eingriffe der Geisterwelt in
der Irdischen voraus-setzte."
Zimmer seems to be holding onto a letter written
by Nabokov, while he was still in the process of writing "Pale Fire." In
it Nabokov states that he had initially planned to name the novel "The
Happy Atheist" (Der glückliche Atheist, in DZ text in German). Finally,
he decided against it because he considers his novel to be "too poetical
and romantic" ("aber dafür ist das Buch viel zu poetisch und romantisch...").
He adds that his aim while writing the novel has
been to concentrate on the matter of pre and after-life and this
is something he thinks has been elegantly solved by him.
My insufficient knowledge of the German doesn't
allow me to offer a translation for Zimmer's text. There are puzzling words
("Figur") whose correct rendering might change my own interpretation and prove
me to be in the wrong. Any help here (with the
original text by VN, for example)?
In German we find (p.416) "Die Recherche meiner
Figur konzentriert sich auf das Problem des Vor- und Nachlebens, das, wie ich
sagen darf, auf schöne Weise gelöst wird." Who or what is this "Figur"
(Kinbote?)
The word "gelöst" suggests to me
that Nabokov considers that his novel presents the solution to a
puzzle... (so now we have VN's word for
the solution of a "puzzle"). Is it true?
...............................................................................................
* - I was wrong. In German the words are exactly
the same. Perhaps the alteration is to be found in the French translation. I
cannot find my original source about that! (so more help is enlisted to check on
that!)