Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0022218, Sat, 3 Dec 2011 17:32:36 -0500

Subject
Pale Fire, the poem, as myth
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On Dec 3, 2011, at 1:05 AM, Jansy wrote:

> In the Nab-L interpretations for the irony in Shade's lines ( "other men die, but I/Am not another...") has been brought up in the past in connection to Marcel Duchamp's epitaph: "D'ailleurs, c'est toujours les autres qui meurent" ("Besides, it's always other people who die.") and other suggestions.

Thanks for the Duchamp citation as possible allusion. It is, I think, in itself, worth knowing.
But the point I was making is that, for a variety reasons, it seems that Shade believes himself to be immortal.
In fact he says so explicitly in the lines beginning: Other men die...
The issue is: does he mean them; or is there an alternative, ironic interpretation.
I don't see that the Duchamp quote provides such an alternative.
Perhaps I'm overlooking something.

Yours,
~/gsl


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