Subject
more on PALE FIRE'S Maude/Countess/maps/ditches (note to line 80)
& Nobody
& Nobody
From
Date
Body
----- Original Message -----
From: "Carolyn Kunin" <chaiselongue@earthlink.net>
To: "Vladimir Nabokov Forum" <NABOKV-L@listserv.ucsb.edu>
Sent: Sunday, September 01, 2002 11:44 AM
Subject: more on Maude/Countess/maps/ditches (note to line 80) & Nobody
> This message was originally submitted by chaiselongue@EARTHLINK.NET >
> ----------------- Message requiring your approval (40
lines) ------------------
> Kinbote's note to "line 80: my bedroom" is very interesting in several
> respects. If Kinbote = Shade, and Countess de Fyler = Aunt Maude, the
proof
> will probably be found in a plotting out of the Shade house and comparison
> to the description of rooms in the palace. The Countess's odd death in
1950
> is recounted within a page of the "note to lines 86-90: Aunt Maude
> (1869-1950)."
>
> Nabokov was fond of using maps himself in literary analysis, and I suspect
> that if anyone could succeed in mapping out New Wye and the Shade house
some
> murkiness might clear up. I am not good at spatial imagining and hope
> someone on the List will be willing to give it a go. I don't think we know
> enough about the Goldsworth chateau yet to say if it really exists. There
> are some hints that it might not, both in the poem and the notes.
>
> There are many references to ditches that don't seem to lead anywhere. In
> pursuing my theory that Shade/Kinbote might be dual personalities I read
> "The Three Faces of Eve" (1957), and found there a possible link. Eve's
> shattering traumatic experiences had to do with fear of death and
> encountering two corpses: first that of a dead body she saw dragged out of
a
> ditch, and secondly the corpse of her grandmother as it lay in state.
>
> If the reference to ditches is a link to "The Three Faces of Eve," then
the
> corpse may also be indirectly detected in the note to line 80. Following
his
> mother's death Kinbote's "hopeless and helpless remorse degenerated into a
> sickly physical fear of her phantom." What he says next, "The Countess who
> seemed to be near him, to be rustling at his side ..." will remind anyone
> who has read the story of Pushkin's "Queen of Spades," in which the hero
has
> encounters with both the rustling ghost and winking corpse of the old
> Countess, who he has unintentionally killed. He, too, ends up in the mad
> house.
>
> Note on Nikto b' - Kinbote and Botkin are near anagrams. But not quite.
Why
> not? Nabokov could just as easily have used the French spelling, Botkine.
I
> do think this is a clue that Botkin is irrelevant ("Nikto b'" could be
> translated as "he wouldn't be anybody" or "he would be nobody" recalling
the
> March Hare who saw "Nobody" coming down the road and was admired for his
> excellent eyesight. Kinbote = Botkin = Nobody doesn't solve the puzzle.
>
> Carolyn Kunin
>
>
From: "Carolyn Kunin" <chaiselongue@earthlink.net>
To: "Vladimir Nabokov Forum" <NABOKV-L@listserv.ucsb.edu>
Sent: Sunday, September 01, 2002 11:44 AM
Subject: more on Maude/Countess/maps/ditches (note to line 80) & Nobody
> This message was originally submitted by chaiselongue@EARTHLINK.NET >
> ----------------- Message requiring your approval (40
lines) ------------------
> Kinbote's note to "line 80: my bedroom" is very interesting in several
> respects. If Kinbote = Shade, and Countess de Fyler = Aunt Maude, the
proof
> will probably be found in a plotting out of the Shade house and comparison
> to the description of rooms in the palace. The Countess's odd death in
1950
> is recounted within a page of the "note to lines 86-90: Aunt Maude
> (1869-1950)."
>
> Nabokov was fond of using maps himself in literary analysis, and I suspect
> that if anyone could succeed in mapping out New Wye and the Shade house
some
> murkiness might clear up. I am not good at spatial imagining and hope
> someone on the List will be willing to give it a go. I don't think we know
> enough about the Goldsworth chateau yet to say if it really exists. There
> are some hints that it might not, both in the poem and the notes.
>
> There are many references to ditches that don't seem to lead anywhere. In
> pursuing my theory that Shade/Kinbote might be dual personalities I read
> "The Three Faces of Eve" (1957), and found there a possible link. Eve's
> shattering traumatic experiences had to do with fear of death and
> encountering two corpses: first that of a dead body she saw dragged out of
a
> ditch, and secondly the corpse of her grandmother as it lay in state.
>
> If the reference to ditches is a link to "The Three Faces of Eve," then
the
> corpse may also be indirectly detected in the note to line 80. Following
his
> mother's death Kinbote's "hopeless and helpless remorse degenerated into a
> sickly physical fear of her phantom." What he says next, "The Countess who
> seemed to be near him, to be rustling at his side ..." will remind anyone
> who has read the story of Pushkin's "Queen of Spades," in which the hero
has
> encounters with both the rustling ghost and winking corpse of the old
> Countess, who he has unintentionally killed. He, too, ends up in the mad
> house.
>
> Note on Nikto b' - Kinbote and Botkin are near anagrams. But not quite.
Why
> not? Nabokov could just as easily have used the French spelling, Botkine.
I
> do think this is a clue that Botkin is irrelevant ("Nikto b'" could be
> translated as "he wouldn't be anybody" or "he would be nobody" recalling
the
> March Hare who saw "Nobody" coming down the road and was admired for his
> excellent eyesight. Kinbote = Botkin = Nobody doesn't solve the puzzle.
>
> Carolyn Kunin
>
>