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Fw: Fw: Fw: reply to Mr Pultorak and a challenge PALE FIRE
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----- Original Message -----
From: Rob Moore
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum
Sent: Saturday, November 23, 2002 1:40 PM
Subject: Re: Fw: Fw: reply to Mr Pultorak and a challenge PALE FIRE
Dear Mr Pultorak,
I think we are getting very close here
to slaying a dead horse, but if Shade
writes
The telephone that rang before a
ball
Every
two minutes in Sorosa Hall ....
it seems to me that he knows a bit too
much of what goes on there.
Carolyn Kunin
Dear Ms. Kunin:
I've been enjoying your game of tiddlywinks with one of my favorite novels, and would not be at all surprised if you someday locate the crown jewels, but in the meantime, I have to say I've never interpreted the two lines above, as you have, to suggest Shade had any intimate knowledge of the goings-on at Sorosa Hall. To me, VN was simply humorously evoking the frantic final moments before a ball, co-eds flouncing up and down the stairs, dates getting made, hearts getting broken, etc. etc. The specificity of 'every two minutes' could suggest backstage knowledge, but since VN chooses to use an indefinite article, 'a', referring generally to all these balls, rather than 'the', and it's unlikely that at every ball the phone always rang every two minutes, I think it more likely VN simply chose a ! number he could live with, and 'two' is often the funniest of the single digit numbers. (Which reminds me that Joseph Heller's first novel was originally titled 'Catch 18', but his editor had him change it to 'Catch 22', "because 22 is a funnier number").
Best,
Ralph Robert (Rob) Moore
SENTENCE at http://www.ralphrobertmoore.com
"D. Barton Johnson" <chtodel@cox.net> wrote:
----- Original Message -----
From: Carolyn Kunin
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum
Sent: Friday, November 22, 2002 7:21 PM
Subject: reply to Mr Pultorak and a challenge
Dear Mr Pultorak,
I think we are getting very close here
to slaying a dead horse, but if Shade
writes
The telephone that rang before a
ball
Every
two minutes in Sorosa Hall ....
it seems to me that he knows a bit too
much of what goes on there.
Carolyn Kunin
p.s. A challenge to
those who believe that the roommate is Hazel's:
Do you see any significance in the nun who turns up in Kinbote's
commentary to line 894 ("the widely circulated stuff about the nun") or any
relationship between this nun and the roommate who has become
one?