Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0005961, Tue, 8 May 2001 17:04:49 -0700

Subject
Creating a hypertext version of Pale Fire (the index)]
Date
Body
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Hello,

This is my first posting to the NABOKOV list.

I work in the computer software industry, with a particular
personal interest in Hypertext, and storing information
and knowledge in computer systems.

I have just completed my second reading of PALE FIRE,
and I'm very interested in exploring the Index of the
book by transferring this text to my computer and
generating hypertext links to each line reference in the
poem.

I have typed out the first Canto and will complete the
remaining Cantos in the next couple of weeks. Obviously
this project has to remain on my computer because of
the copyright of the text, unless I can persuade the
publisher to make it available. A "Pale Fire" CD-ROM
would be a great product in my opinion! Maybe Brian
Boyd has explored this idea since he wrote a Ph D
on Pale Fire.

My question to the list is deciding which lines of text
belong to each index card. In the preface, Kinbote says
there are 80 cards containing the poem, and the commentary
indicates a few card numbers here and there. In the meantime
I will make a best guess since it wont be too hard to
regenerate my hypertext as it will be done with a set
of Perl scripts.

Kind regards,

Charles Cave
in Sydney, Australia