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Re: Webster's 2nd; PF in Berg Collection
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> also, a long-ish reference to The Case of Patience Worth ((W.F.
> Prince, 1927)--a renowned case of channeling by a mid-western
> housewife of a 17th century author (during the years 1912-1937). The
> notes also include reference to the possible faking of such paranormal
> phenomena--but no specific comments or evaluations by VN about his
> response to these.
Stephen,
Thanks for letting us in on this precious find. We can certainly
associate this with "The Vane Sisters." The idea of faking a ghostly
possession is also noteworthy to me since it's confirms, or at least
encourages, my suscpicions. When I reviewed Boyd's Nabokov's Pale
Fire: The Magic Art of Discovery , which argues that the poem is
partially "written" by ghosts who are in possession of poor Kinbote, I
countered with the argument that it was meant to seem that Kinbote had
faked it (that is, done some revising to the poem) to make it seem as
if ghosts had a hand in the poem's creation. He would have wanted the
poem "about" him to be inspired. Boyd had uncovered only part of the
joke. Boyd's work was harder than mine (I just jumped to my
conclusion), so I don't mean to discount his always impressive
scholarship.
Here's the review again. Word limit forced me to be more to the point
than I would have liked to have been.
Tori
Nabokov's Pale Fire: The Magic Art of Discovery by Brian Boyd.
Princeton University Press, 303pp., $16.95 paper
Antioch Review, 2002.
Nabokov's Pale Fire is a fictitious edition of a poem by John Shade
with commentary by an egocentric critic, Charles Kinbote. Boyd offers
detailed analyses of patterns in the poem, performing the work that
should have been done by Kinbote. He also provides excellent commentary
on Kinbote's work. Boyd then looks at the patterns occurring between
Shade's and Kinbote's contributions, which have led several critics to
argue that the whole of Pale Fire was written by one deceptive
meta-author. Boyd once argued it was Shade. Now he claims it was
Kinbote possessed by the ghosts of Shade and Shade's daughter. Boyd
overstates his case somewhat by not making clear distinctions between
patterns that could be attributed to one of the living authors and
patterns that require a meta-author: e.g., the fact that Kinbote's
commentary echoes themes in Shade's poem is not an uncanny coincidence;
the fact that Shade's poem seems to prophesy his own murder is.
Boyd dedicates considerable space to Popper's Logic of Scientific
Discovery, claiming his own "theory" about Pale Fire is falsifiable in
Popper's sense. However, Boyd is mistaken. Poetic interpretations, like
any postulation about supernatural beings, are precisely the kinds of
assertions that cannot be falsified. As Pale Fire itself demonstrates,
art and belief are the effects of ambiguity and coincidence.
All the same, Boyd is right: there do seem to be ghosts afoot. But it
appears to me that Boyd has only swallowed Kinbote's bait. Kinbote
wants readers to think his commentary is supernaturally inspired. Boyd
discounts Nabokov's warning that Shade has learned not to believe in
"domestic ghosts." Shade's subtler discovery, which Boyd has missed
altogether, is that certain kinds of poetic patterns tend to suggest a
meta-author, and similar patterns in real life tend to suggest
supernatural meta-authors. Nevertheless, Boyd's discovery of Kinbote's
planted clues advances Nabokovian scholarship considerably. My
criticism should ultimately only strengthen the better part of his
thesis.
--Victoria N. Alexander
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