Subject
JF to CK on trump cards and date palms
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--- Carolyn Kunin <chaiselongue@EARTHLINK.NET> wrote:
> > Anyway, one difference between you and me is where you see
> > "cheating a bit", I see massive discrepancies. When I found
> > one little discrepancy in /Pale Fire/ (the date palm), I decided
> > Nabokov meant there to be no real story.
>
> Dear Jerry,
>
> I do vaguely recall a date palm, but not the discrepancy - - would you
> provide the particulars?
Dear Carolyn,
I don't have my copy here, so I looked it up at the searchable
text at Amazon (which I recommend to you if you want to search
for "bicycle" or any such thing). When Kinbote talks about
the trees on that famous avenue (n. 998), he mentions "a
phoenix (now date palm)". But date palms can't grow in the New
Wye winters that Kinbote described. If you search the archives
for "date palm", you'll find a little more that I've said
about it.
I think there are a few other such discrepancies of detail,
two of which I've mentioned recently: "I envision" versus "I
saw" "Dr. Sutton", and the coexistence of Utana with Utah and
Montana.
> As to massive discrepancies vs cheating a bit, I may have a bit of
news.
> A
> very generous little bird sneaked a trump card my way off the List. It
> seems
> that Nabokov has been caught in this "cheat" before. If I could show
> you
> that Nabokov has been caught in the same sleight of hand elsewhere,
> would
> that sway you at all?
If it doesn't sway me, would that fact sway you at all? Instead of
guarantees, I'd be interested in seeing the item.
Jerry Friedman
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
> > Anyway, one difference between you and me is where you see
> > "cheating a bit", I see massive discrepancies. When I found
> > one little discrepancy in /Pale Fire/ (the date palm), I decided
> > Nabokov meant there to be no real story.
>
> Dear Jerry,
>
> I do vaguely recall a date palm, but not the discrepancy - - would you
> provide the particulars?
Dear Carolyn,
I don't have my copy here, so I looked it up at the searchable
text at Amazon (which I recommend to you if you want to search
for "bicycle" or any such thing). When Kinbote talks about
the trees on that famous avenue (n. 998), he mentions "a
phoenix (now date palm)". But date palms can't grow in the New
Wye winters that Kinbote described. If you search the archives
for "date palm", you'll find a little more that I've said
about it.
I think there are a few other such discrepancies of detail,
two of which I've mentioned recently: "I envision" versus "I
saw" "Dr. Sutton", and the coexistence of Utana with Utah and
Montana.
> As to massive discrepancies vs cheating a bit, I may have a bit of
news.
> A
> very generous little bird sneaked a trump card my way off the List. It
> seems
> that Nabokov has been caught in this "cheat" before. If I could show
> you
> that Nabokov has been caught in the same sleight of hand elsewhere,
> would
> that sway you at all?
If it doesn't sway me, would that fact sway you at all? Instead of
guarantees, I'd be interested in seeing the item.
Jerry Friedman
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