Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0007415, Fri, 17 Jan 2003 19:52:07 -0800

Subject
Fw: Pnin in Pale Fire (fwd)
Date
Body
----- Original Message -----
From: "Galya Diment" <galya@u.washington.edu>
To: <reynoldsm001@hawaii.rr.com>
Cc: "D. Barton Johnson" <chtodel@cox.net>
Sent: Friday, January 17, 2003 7:12 PM
Subject: Fw: Pnin in Pale Fire (fwd)


> Dear Mac,
>
> Pnin is as happy as a clam in Pale Fire, even wearing a Hawaiian
> shirt, which should appeal to you! :=) Kinbote is utterly unreliable here,
> and we are supposed to know it. Galya
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> Date: Fri, 17 Jan 2003 18:48:57 -0800
> From: D. Barton Johnson <chtodel@cox.net>
> Reply-To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
> To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
> Subject: Fw: Pnin in Pale Fire
>
> .
> ----- Original Message ---
> From: "Mac Reynolds" <reynoldsm001@hawaii.rr.com>
>
> > ----------------- Message requiring your approval (11
> lines) ------------------
> > I just read Walter Miale's post on The Gift and it triggered this
> > question from me on Pnin in Pale Fire. Why is one of the most lovable
> > characters in VN's fiction described as a "martinet" in Pale Fire? Is
> > it because of mad Kinbote, a most unreliable narrator? When his little
> > blue sedan spurted around the beer truck and up the shining highway at
> > the end of Pnin, I think that most readers would only wish him the
> > best. But to end up a martinet? It seems most unfair and not in
> > keeping with how he was in the novel Pnin.
> >
> > Mac Reynolds
> >----------------------------
> EDNOTE. I, like you, am inclined to take it as a sign of Kinbote/ Botkin's
> lunacy, but perhaps
> others can offer different explanations
>
>