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Re: Pnin in Pale Fire
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----- Original Message -----
From: Andrew Brown
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum
Sent: Sunday, January 26, 2003 10:54 AM
Subject: Re: Pnin in Pale Fire
Phil,
I think it would be a great error to believe that Nabokov ever saw himself as a "sympathetic" Pnin in any case, or that there is anything at all of Nabokov in either Kinbote or Shade, or that Nabokov's novels were ever at all about himself.
Nabokov knew his own abilities too well, and was not a self-effacing man, to ever portray himself as Pnin, who, for all his beauty, is distinguished primarily by an inability -- maybe a noble inability, but still an inability -- to get along in the physical world. The athletic, multilingual, handsome Nabokov was no Pnin. All Nabokov had in common with Pnin was his teeth. The narrator of Pnin is a crueler persona for which Nabokov IMO may have slightly leveraged the perceived (by his readers), purported character of "Sirin," a name known to Russian emigres as the nom de plume of someone they really did not know --- Nabokov.
I can't see anything at all, even slightly, of Nabokov in Kinbote or Shade. When Nabokov wanted to write about Nabokov, he did so without mystification in Speak Memory.
To say that there is anything of Nabokov in Humbert Humbert would be, as I think N. himself notes, a serious libel.
----- Original Message -----
From: "D. Barton Johnson" <chtodel@cox.net>
To: <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
Sent: Sunday, January 26, 2003 1:01 AM
Subject: Fw: Pnin in Pale Fire
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Phillip Iannarelli" <iann88us@yahoo.com>
> To: "Vladimir Nabokov Forum" <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
> > ----------------- Message requiring your approval (66
> lines) ------------------
> >
> >
> > I think you touched on something important. I always
> > believed that in "Pnin" Pnin and the Narrator are two
> > different personalities of Nabokov: Pnin the
> > sympathetic Nabokov and the Narrator the more worldly,
> > superior, and arrogant Nabokov--of course the more
> > superior the Narrator is, the more sympathetic Pnin
> > becomes. In Pale Fire it's the same thing but in a
> > more advanced complex way. Shade and Kinbote are two
> > aspects of VN's own self struggling with each other.
> > Most of VN's books are one character novels: himself,
> > which becomes tedious at times.
> > --- "D. Barton Johnson" <chtodel@cox.net> wrote:
> > > ----- Original Message -----
> > > From: "Robert Rabiee" <costanza2000@yahoo.com>
> > > >
> > > > ----------------- Message requiring your approval
> > > (28
> > > lines) ------------------
> > > > Dear list,
> > > >
> > > > Perhaps one answer can come from our understanding
> > > of
> > > > Pnin's "Vladimir Nabokov" -- the most seemingly
> > > > reliable of our various unreliably Nabakovian
> > > > narrators. Perhaps VN/VNt (t for text) are
> > > > intentionally attempting to paint a more
> > > compassionate
> > > > picture of poor Timofey; remember that VNt takes
> > > many
> > > > liberties in his filling in of Pnin's personal
> > > > history, and even Pnin denies a tangible
> > > connection
> > > > between the two. Of course, I don't necessarily
> > > > believe this -- I should like to think that Pnin
> > > is
> > > > every bit as sweet as we are led to believe -- but
> > > it
> > > > is a possible explanation. Our understanding of
> > > > Kinbote, however, leads us to lean towards his
> > > being
> > > > wholly unreliable. This, as many have said, seems
> > > to
> > > > be the most obvious (and correct) interpretation.
> > > But
> > > > remember, also, that Kinbote may indeed be Shade
> > > > himself...so what does this say about Shade? Is
> > > Shade
> > > > another VNt, working against Pnin instead of for
> > > him?
> > > >
> > > > Oi. Alright, just a few (fairly obvious) ideas.
> > > That's
> > > > about as much I can decipher.
> > > >
> > > > Best regards,
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Robert Y. Rabiee
> >
> >
> > __________________________________________________
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