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Pale Fire's IPH
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From: Walter Miale <wm@greenworldcenter.org>
Subject: Pale Fire's IPH
This continues an earlier thread on the Pale Fire poem, masterpiece
and/or parody?
If the poem were the autobiographical work of a real person named
John Shade it would have some lines that would make us, or that would
make me at least, cringe.
Just as the tragic figure of Hazel was introduced with mockery or
disappointed egotism (she's "plump" and squints, etc.), so the
announcement of the theme of spiritual transcendence and life after
death at the opening of Canto Three is followed immediately with
preposterous, almost scatological lines:
I.P.H., a lay
Institute (I) of Preparation (P)
For the Hereafter (H)....
Any doubt regarding the allusion to Preparation H, a patent remedy
for hemorrhoids (probably advertised in the same issues of Life
magazine as the underpants and zipper in Aunt Maude's clippings), is
dispelled a few lines later:
And our best yesterdays are now foul piles...
Yes, it's fun, the allusion is there in the company of the *grand
potato,* the *big if,* and "to lecture on the Worm." Dying is easy,
but turning it into comedy is art. But doesn't the arch and giggly
reverberation of the IPH lines go further and clue us that if they
are read as autobiographical, their fictive author is parodying
himself?
Shade is writing about his great personal tragedy, and the tragedy of
his daughter, and one of the great mysteries of life. His sense of
humour has survived and he can laugh about these serious things. But
the notes of ridicule (of his daughter, himself, and his
theme)--aren't they jarring in the autobiographical work of the
eminent New England poet? I'm afraid there's some fun for the writer
and reader to have here with the not altogether reliable John Shade,
just as we do with poor Kinbote.
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Subject: Pale Fire's IPH
This continues an earlier thread on the Pale Fire poem, masterpiece
and/or parody?
If the poem were the autobiographical work of a real person named
John Shade it would have some lines that would make us, or that would
make me at least, cringe.
Just as the tragic figure of Hazel was introduced with mockery or
disappointed egotism (she's "plump" and squints, etc.), so the
announcement of the theme of spiritual transcendence and life after
death at the opening of Canto Three is followed immediately with
preposterous, almost scatological lines:
I.P.H., a lay
Institute (I) of Preparation (P)
For the Hereafter (H)....
Any doubt regarding the allusion to Preparation H, a patent remedy
for hemorrhoids (probably advertised in the same issues of Life
magazine as the underpants and zipper in Aunt Maude's clippings), is
dispelled a few lines later:
And our best yesterdays are now foul piles...
Yes, it's fun, the allusion is there in the company of the *grand
potato,* the *big if,* and "to lecture on the Worm." Dying is easy,
but turning it into comedy is art. But doesn't the arch and giggly
reverberation of the IPH lines go further and clue us that if they
are read as autobiographical, their fictive author is parodying
himself?
Shade is writing about his great personal tragedy, and the tragedy of
his daughter, and one of the great mysteries of life. His sense of
humour has survived and he can laugh about these serious things. But
the notes of ridicule (of his daughter, himself, and his
theme)--aren't they jarring in the autobiographical work of the
eminent New England poet? I'm afraid there's some fun for the writer
and reader to have here with the not altogether reliable John Shade,
just as we do with poor Kinbote.
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