Subject
Re: from Ron Rosenbaum re Pale Firings
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Ron Rosenbaum writes:
Dear List Memebers,
>
> Has anyone else noticed the contradictory logic of B. Boyd and his loyal
> defenders in regard to the role of Hazel Shade in <Pale Fire>?
>
> On the one hand we are told by Jerry Friedman that Boyd never <really>
> argued for the role for the dead girl's ghost in wriiting/inspiring <Pale
> Fire> or "Pale Fire".
>
I think you may not have noticed the way gmail marks quotations from the
e-mail being responded to, or you may have mixed me up with John Morris.
The view you're attributing to me has some resemblances to the one I quoted
from him, but it's not like anything I said.
On the other hand we are told with unconvincing muse-ings such as that from
> R.S. Gwynn that, if in fact Boyd did so argue (as most would agree he did),
> he was right.
>
I think what most would agree on is that Boyd argued that Hazel indirectly
inspired "Pale Fire"--not "wrote", not "dictated" (as you said in your
previous post).
> I agree with Jansy that they are wrong on both counts. I think the problem
> is that Boyd (and many others) are too eager to offer a "solution" to <Pale
> Fire> as if it were some crossword puzzle rather than a luminous numinous
> work of art.
>
Nabokov did write that he liked "composing riddles with elegant solutions,"
and I think he'd have disagreed with your dichotomy between puzzles and
luminous numinous works of art. That in itself doesn't mean we can be sure
he meant *Pale Fire* to have a solution.
Jerry Friedman
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Dear List Memebers,
>
> Has anyone else noticed the contradictory logic of B. Boyd and his loyal
> defenders in regard to the role of Hazel Shade in <Pale Fire>?
>
> On the one hand we are told by Jerry Friedman that Boyd never <really>
> argued for the role for the dead girl's ghost in wriiting/inspiring <Pale
> Fire> or "Pale Fire".
>
I think you may not have noticed the way gmail marks quotations from the
e-mail being responded to, or you may have mixed me up with John Morris.
The view you're attributing to me has some resemblances to the one I quoted
from him, but it's not like anything I said.
On the other hand we are told with unconvincing muse-ings such as that from
> R.S. Gwynn that, if in fact Boyd did so argue (as most would agree he did),
> he was right.
>
I think what most would agree on is that Boyd argued that Hazel indirectly
inspired "Pale Fire"--not "wrote", not "dictated" (as you said in your
previous post).
> I agree with Jansy that they are wrong on both counts. I think the problem
> is that Boyd (and many others) are too eager to offer a "solution" to <Pale
> Fire> as if it were some crossword puzzle rather than a luminous numinous
> work of art.
>
Nabokov did write that he liked "composing riddles with elegant solutions,"
and I think he'd have disagreed with your dichotomy between puzzles and
luminous numinous works of art. That in itself doesn't mean we can be sure
he meant *Pale Fire* to have a solution.
Jerry Friedman
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/