Brian Boyd:”… as Ward Swanson noted in the Nabokovian, 44 (2000), p. 14, Nabokov and Shade were echoing Thomas Flatman (not among those “not in this Index”), and hyper-aptly, his “On the Much Lamented Death of our late Sovereign Lord King Charles II of Blessed Memory” (1685), ll. 21-25: "But Princes (like the wondrous Enoch) should be free…Never submit to Fate, but only disappear." Shade's “eh, Charles?” is a nice bonus for those who stumble on the echo.
Jansy Mello: I was wondering about Shade/Kinbote's lack of originality when coining this sentence* and lo…Brian offered the right context that turns it into something uniquely Nabokovian (a hidden erudite reference, a humorous nod to seekers-finders, a perfect fit disguised by a trite pronnouncement). It made me wonder if this quote isn’t a prefiguration of murder, or if Shade (who might be familiar with T.Flatman) agreed with the old poet’s conclusion about “disappearances” after death?
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* - JM: “For other examples found at this new site: http://www.joe-ks.com/archives_sep2004/Old_People_Never_Die.htm
Kinbote’squip isn’t very original at all…”