I think that Jansy Mello and Ron Rosenbaum have misunderstood Chabon's comment on PF. He didn't say that Kinbote tucked Zembla into the poem; he said K. tucked it into the housing of the poem, that is, his apparatus. Which is much truer.
I was interested in Jansy's question, "...why did Nabokov choose the perspective of a gay, egocentric and delirious King to write about his private pains of exile and estrangement." To offer what may be simplistic answers--I think that he saw something in others' and perhaps his memories of Russia, especially its aristocratic side, that resembled Graustarkian and Ruritanian (The Prisoner of Zenda) fantasy, which he could enjoy parodying with Zembla. He may have seen something homosexual in this genre's dashing heroes and villains and its elaborate male costumes--Kinbote in his guardsman's uniform looks like a "fancy pansy".
Another reason that Kinbote is "sexually left-handed" is that it fits with all the mirrors and reflections. A possibility is that it gives him a subject for his fantasy, this country of ancestral alderkings and tolerant bishops. I still think it gives the reader one of a series of deceptions to see through, along with Kinbote's being the king, being insane, being only tolerated by Shade, not being a good scholar.
On a possibly unrelated note, Carolyn Kunin will be glad to know Rider Haggard's She isn't that obscure. According to Wikipedia, it has never been out of print. A new paperback edition appeared last year, and Amazon is giving it away free for the Kindle--which, whether you like the Kindle or not, at least suggests that Amazon thinks the book is desirable. (I had no trouble finding it in a public library some years ago, but I didn't like it much--too many pots, not enough Ayesha.)
Jerry Friedman
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