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Re: Botkin(e). Modest Proposal
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If I am not mistaken, Donald B. Johnson attempted to prove that Kinbote is
Botkin in his "The Index of Refraction in PALE FIRE", Worlds in Regression:
Some Novels of Vladimir Nabokov, pp. 60-77 (Ardis 1985).
A. Bouazza.
-----Original Message-----
From: Vladimir Nabokov Forum [mailto:NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU]On Behalf
Of Chaswe@AOL.COM
Sent: 10 November 2006 05:19
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Subject: [NABOKV-L] Botkin(e). Modest Proposal
This is probably a very naive question, but what is the internal evidence
in PF that the nasty commentator is Botkin, a Russian madman, not Kinbote, a
Zemblan madman? Is not Botkin, or Botkine, a mirror-image of Kinbote? Is VN
being reliable here? I certainly failed to notice Botkin's authorship in
reading PF several times after first buying the paperback in 1964. But I'm
used to being called dense.
Mary McCarthy's failure to uncover Timon of Athens is slightly deplorable,
of course.
Discoveries in a work of literature have to be a surprise to many,
including its author. This is a feature of what Robert Graves called the
proleptic nature of literary creation, and Koestler applied this to all
forms of sudden creative insight. A burr, or piece of fluff, which has
lodged in memory since I read it many years ago was the comment, made I
think by a little girl, and embryonic authoress: "How can I know what I mean
until I see what I say?"
On another point: Dr. Samuel Schuman's Modest Proposal. Information
overload is the modern curse. I have been (still am) a subscriber to three
other lists. In each case the discussion is more or less ruined by
persistent posters who visit their stupefyingly tedious comments on the rest
of the subscribers, and I have abandoned any attempt to maintain a
conversation at what I consider a reasonably high level, and now limit
myself to merely lurking, as well as automatically deleting anything from
contributors I know to be a pain in the neck. This list is an exception,
since personally I find virtually all the remarks amusing, informative,
perceptive, erudite and stimulating. My view is that it is up to the reader
to perform his/her own filtering. In time, I too will no doubt fall silent.
Like Beckett.
Charles HW
In a message dated 09/11/2006 17:57:31 GMT Standard Time,
NABOKV-L@HOLYCROSS.EDU writes:
Here the poet is revealed by his poetry; the commentator by
> his
> commentary. ['Pale Fire'] is jollier than the other [novels], and it
is
> full
> of plums that I keep hoping somebody will find. For instance, the
nasty
> commentator is not an ex-King of Zembla nor is he professor Kinbote.
He
> is
> professor Botkin, or Botkine, a Russian and a madman. His commentary
has
> a
> number of notes dealing with entomology, ornithology, and botany. The
> reviewers have said that I worked my favorite subjects into this
novel.
> What
> they have not discovered is that Botkin knows nothing about them, and
> all
> his notes are frightfully erroneous.... No onehas noted that my
> comment ator
> committed suicide before completing the index to the book.... The last
> entry
> has no numbered reference.... And even Mary McCarthy, who has
discovered
>
> more of the books than most of its critics, had some difficulty in
> locating
> the source of its title, and made the mistake of searching for it in
> Shakespeare's 'The Tempest.' It is from 'Timon of Athens.'
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Botkin in his "The Index of Refraction in PALE FIRE", Worlds in Regression:
Some Novels of Vladimir Nabokov, pp. 60-77 (Ardis 1985).
A. Bouazza.
-----Original Message-----
From: Vladimir Nabokov Forum [mailto:NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU]On Behalf
Of Chaswe@AOL.COM
Sent: 10 November 2006 05:19
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Subject: [NABOKV-L] Botkin(e). Modest Proposal
This is probably a very naive question, but what is the internal evidence
in PF that the nasty commentator is Botkin, a Russian madman, not Kinbote, a
Zemblan madman? Is not Botkin, or Botkine, a mirror-image of Kinbote? Is VN
being reliable here? I certainly failed to notice Botkin's authorship in
reading PF several times after first buying the paperback in 1964. But I'm
used to being called dense.
Mary McCarthy's failure to uncover Timon of Athens is slightly deplorable,
of course.
Discoveries in a work of literature have to be a surprise to many,
including its author. This is a feature of what Robert Graves called the
proleptic nature of literary creation, and Koestler applied this to all
forms of sudden creative insight. A burr, or piece of fluff, which has
lodged in memory since I read it many years ago was the comment, made I
think by a little girl, and embryonic authoress: "How can I know what I mean
until I see what I say?"
On another point: Dr. Samuel Schuman's Modest Proposal. Information
overload is the modern curse. I have been (still am) a subscriber to three
other lists. In each case the discussion is more or less ruined by
persistent posters who visit their stupefyingly tedious comments on the rest
of the subscribers, and I have abandoned any attempt to maintain a
conversation at what I consider a reasonably high level, and now limit
myself to merely lurking, as well as automatically deleting anything from
contributors I know to be a pain in the neck. This list is an exception,
since personally I find virtually all the remarks amusing, informative,
perceptive, erudite and stimulating. My view is that it is up to the reader
to perform his/her own filtering. In time, I too will no doubt fall silent.
Like Beckett.
Charles HW
In a message dated 09/11/2006 17:57:31 GMT Standard Time,
NABOKV-L@HOLYCROSS.EDU writes:
Here the poet is revealed by his poetry; the commentator by
> his
> commentary. ['Pale Fire'] is jollier than the other [novels], and it
is
> full
> of plums that I keep hoping somebody will find. For instance, the
nasty
> commentator is not an ex-King of Zembla nor is he professor Kinbote.
He
> is
> professor Botkin, or Botkine, a Russian and a madman. His commentary
has
> a
> number of notes dealing with entomology, ornithology, and botany. The
> reviewers have said that I worked my favorite subjects into this
novel.
> What
> they have not discovered is that Botkin knows nothing about them, and
> all
> his notes are frightfully erroneous.... No onehas noted that my
> comment ator
> committed suicide before completing the index to the book.... The last
> entry
> has no numbered reference.... And even Mary McCarthy, who has
discovered
>
> more of the books than most of its critics, had some difficulty in
> locating
> the source of its title, and made the mistake of searching for it in
> Shakespeare's 'The Tempest.' It is from 'Timon of Athens.'
Search the Nabokv-L archive at UCSB
Contact the Editors
All private editorial communications, without exception, are read by both
co-editors.
Visit Zembla
View Nabokv-L Policies
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
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