Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0014676, Fri, 19 Jan 2007 13:35:37 -0500

Subject
Re: MR re: Editing Problems
Date
Body
I¹ve been trying for a few days now to complete a post on the editing
examples found in the PF poem, but since that document seems to be growing
instead of becoming more concise, I would like to respond very briefly to
Matt¹s note below.

Briefly, then, Shade¹s ³note for future use² seems to me to be clear
³advanced warning² supplied by VN supporting the ideas I advanced for Sergei
that Shade was far from finished with his poem. Not only was the final word
as yet unsupplied, the theme itself, and its poetic support, were as yet
incomplete.

In contrast to Shade¹s legitimate ³note to self² Kinbote¹s gaffe in the
foreword, an ineptly inscribed direction to the printer, not caught by
either a professional publishing house proofreader or by the self-designated
editor ‹ is another indication of a manuscript far from ready for printing.
This clumsy novice¹s error, along with the anguished cry for help at the
noises he hears beyond his cabin, are early warnings of the pretender¹s
unsuitability for the task he has presumptuously, unethically, arrogated to
himself. Kinbote/Botkin¹s editing has been concentrated more on stitching a
delusional Zembla into another man¹s work than on faithfully but
incompetently trying to help a beloved, respected friend, now deceased.

Andrew Brown


On 1/19/07 8:37 AM, "Nabokv-L" <nabokv-l@UTK.EDU> wrote:

>
>
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: Editing Problems
> Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2007 18:19:48 -0800
> From: Matthew Roth <mroth@MESSIAH.EDU> <mailto:mroth@MESSIAH.EDU>
> To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
>
> Jansy said: "contrary to MR,who wrote: I do like your observation about
> the editing problems shared by JS and CK", I confess that I cannot
> understand where these shared problems lie."
>
> MR: My understanding of Carolyn's post: John Shade incorporates his "note
> for further use" into his poem, even though it doesn't really fit with the
> poem and is more apt as a marginal notation. Similarly, though not exactly
> in the same way, Kinbote leaves notes to his editor in the text of the
> Foreword when they clearly should not be there. In a sense, then, JS and
> CK share that trait. I thought it a clever observation, if not definitive.
>
> Matt
>
>
>
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