-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: Alexey Sklyarenko, de Vere in Ada
Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2012 12:23:29 -0700
From: Mike Marcus <mmkcm@COMCAST.NET>
To: <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>, Alexey Sklyarenko <skylark1970@MAIL.RU>
CC: Mike Marcus <mmkcm@COMCAST.NET>


Alexey Sklyarenko wrote:
"Gwen de Vere reminds one of Queen Guinevere (Van revises his first novel on board Queen Guinevere: 2.2)"

Mike M writes:
Harfar, Baron of Shalksbore / Curdy Buff in Pale Fire is certainly Edward de Vere. But Harfar actually sounds rather like Arthur (cf. Guinevere) spoken by a cockney rather more than a tipsy version of Edward.

At the risk of sounding like someone with a "mind-virus", I was wondering about Curdy Buff. He's first introduced as a cousin whom Disa loathes, hence the cousin of a Queen, which itself fits Vere; cousin was used loosely in Shakespeare's day. Why Disa loathed him is never made clear. That he was responsible for delivering the advice that Disa's trying to make a "romantic ... attempt to return to Zembla" would end in "incarceration" is reflected in his own life. In 1574 for no apparent reason he fled to the Continent; some Oxfordian writers think this was for romantic reasons. He was persuaded to return to England where it was feared he would be jailed, but he suffered merely a reprimand.

Barons come and go in Pale Fire; has anyone studied them? Setting aside the Mandevils, who are an interesting story in themselves, we first read that
"One of the lesser Shadows whom we shall call Baron A. had a father-in-law called Baron B., a harmless old codger long retired from the civil service and quite incapable of understanding certain Renaissance aspects of the new regime."
Baron B. smacks of Hamlet's prospective father-in-law, Polonius; the use of the word 'Renaissance' is the hint that leads to Shakespeare. Polonius is widely recognized amongst historians, if not by all literary critics, as a lampoon of the man known as Lord Burghley, Queen Elizabeth I's chief minister. In 1571, as plain Sir William Cecil, he was elevated to the position of Baron Burghley -- Baron B. Burghley was the father-in-law of Vere of Oxford, who thus appears to be Baron A., a "lesser Shadow". Later, Bretwit says "Baron B. must be a little gaga," -- Polonius again.

Kinbote continues: "He [Baron B] had been, or thought he had been (retrospective distance magnifies things), a close friend of the late Minister of Foreign Affairs, Oswin Bretwit's father, and therefore was looking forward to the day when he would be able to transmit to "young" Oswin (who, he understood, was not exactly persona grata with the new regime) a bundle of precious family papers that the dusty baron had come across by chance in the files of a governmental office."
Sir Henry Sidney (Philip Sidney's father) had been Queen Elizabeth's pro-rex, or viceroy, in Ireland and Wales, so as a working hypothesis, assume he was the "late Minister of Foreign Affairs". That would make Oswin Bretwit Sir Philip Sidney. Sidney senior and Burghley were at one time great friends, in fact Sidney jr was intended to marry Burghley's daughter. Sidney complained bitterly, like Hamlet, that he lacked "advancement", because of his youth -- hence ""young" Oswin". Philip Sidney was not persona grata with Elizabeth. First he wrote a forward and unsolicited letter advising her, in no uncertain terms, not to marry her latest suitor, for which he was rusticated; later he complained that Elizabeth invariably saw the worst in him. "Dusty Baron" describes Burghley precisely -- forever making notes, long-winded and tedious. The "precious family papers" might allude to the fact that the lowly origins of both the Cecil and Sidney families rankled, so both fabricated false genealogies to compensate.

"Here are some precious papers belonging to your family. I cannot do better than place them in the hands of the son of the great man who was my fellow student in Heidelberg and my teacher in the diplomatic service."
Heidelberg was a center of Protestantism. Both Burghley and the Sidneys promoted that religion.

"The scripta in question were two hundred and thirteen long letters which had passed some seventy years ago between Zule Bretwit, Oswin's grand-uncle, Mayor of Odevalla, and a cousin of his, Ferz Bretwit, Mayor of Aros. This correspondence, a dismal exchange of bureaucratic platitudes and fustian jokes, was devoid of even such parochial interest as letters of this sort may possess in the eyes of a local historian - but of course there is no way of telling what will repel or attract a sentimental ancestralist - and this was what Oswin Bretwit had always been known to be by his former staff. I would like to take time out here to interrupt this dry commentary and pay a brief tribute to Oswin Bretwit."
The valuable documents turn out to be family trivia, and might represent the true status of the Bretwit (Sidney) family a few generations earlier, i.e. minor functionaries rather than great figures of State. ".. sentimental ancestralist" does describe the Elizabethan view of genealogy.

CK's lengthy, and seemingly unwarranted encomium to Oswin Bretwit seems to reflect the vast outpouring of panegyric, in verse and prose, that followed the death of Philip Sidney, whose career scarcely justified it.

"The Extremists were right in believing that Baron Bland, the Keeper of the Treasure, had succeeded in hiding those jewels before he jumped or fell from the North Tower; but they did not know he had had a helper and were wrong in thinking the jewels must be looked for in the palace which the gentle white-haired Bland had never left except to die."
Baron Bland (Baron B.?) seems to be Baron B[urghley]/Polonius. Bland was "Keeper of the Treasure"; Burghley was Lord Treasurer. Baron Bland's death seems to have been mysterious: did he jump or was he pushed? Likewise Polonius; did Hamlet intend to kill him or Claudius?

I assume that Andronnikov and Niagarin mirror Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.

There are a few interesting complications. In the index, Baron A is "Oswin Affenpin, last Baron of Aff, a puny traitor," -- so he has the same first name as Oswin Breitwit. Vere was short in stature; "puny"? Baron A in the index is not described as son-in-law to Baron B, but the entry for Baron B is:
"B., Baron, involuntary father-in-law of Baron A. and imaginary old friend of the Bretwit (q.v.) family".
As a matter of fact, Burghley insisted that it was Vere who made the running in his courtship of Burghley's daughter; Burghley claimed that he never wanted it, and was taken by surprise. Burghley was the "imaginary" friend of the Sidneys because when Sidney père lost some documents relating to the proposed engagement between Philip Sidney and Anne Cecil, Burghley used that as an excuse to abort the match; the real reason was that with the prospect of his daughter marrying an earl, the Sidneys lacked both money and status.

Final point: in the index, "Shalksbore, Baron Harfar, known as Curdy Buff, b.1921, man of fashion and Zemblan patriot" -- this we know is Vere of Oxford. "Mandevil, Baron Radomir, b. 1925, man of fashion and Zemblan patriot". Identical (aside from a little later elaboration). Note that Curdy is four years older than Radomir. Vere was four years older than Sidney. Then there's "Mandevil, Baron Mirador, cousin of Radomir Mandevil (q.v.), experimentalist, madman and traitor," -- no birth date given.

Mike Marcus














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