Subject
Kinbote the Great Beaver
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Kinbote is known on the campus as "the Great Beaver." Cf. Gerald Emerald's words in reply to a secretary's question and Kinbote's comment: "'I guess Mr Shade has already left with the Great Beaver.' Of course, I am quite tall, and my brown beard is of a rather rich tint and texture; the silly cognomen evidently applied to me, but was not worth noticing..." (Pale Fire, Foreword).
Beavers do not have a beard, of course. But, like all rodents, they do not feed on meat (and this was probably the reason why Kinbote, a strict vegeterian,* was dubbed "the Great Beaver"). Yet, Kinbote mentions his beard not accidentally (even if he doesn't realize it). The Latin name of beaver is Castor. Castor = Castro. Dr Castro (the Cuban dictator) is famous for his beard. Anagrams are important in PF, after all!
*In his Commentary to Shade's poem (Line 171: A great conspiracy), Kinbote explains what has made of him a vegetarian: "When the fallen tyrant is tied, naked and howling, to a plank in the public square and killed piecemeal by the people who cut slices out, and eat them, and distribute his living body among themselves (as I read when young in a story about an Italian despot, which made of me a vegetarian for life)..."
Alexey Sklyarenko
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Beavers do not have a beard, of course. But, like all rodents, they do not feed on meat (and this was probably the reason why Kinbote, a strict vegeterian,* was dubbed "the Great Beaver"). Yet, Kinbote mentions his beard not accidentally (even if he doesn't realize it). The Latin name of beaver is Castor. Castor = Castro. Dr Castro (the Cuban dictator) is famous for his beard. Anagrams are important in PF, after all!
*In his Commentary to Shade's poem (Line 171: A great conspiracy), Kinbote explains what has made of him a vegetarian: "When the fallen tyrant is tied, naked and howling, to a plank in the public square and killed piecemeal by the people who cut slices out, and eat them, and distribute his living body among themselves (as I read when young in a story about an Italian despot, which made of me a vegetarian for life)..."
Alexey Sklyarenko
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/