Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0001113, Tue, 30 Apr 1996 14:56:13 -0700

Subject
_Pale Fire_ puzzles
Date
Body
From: SEIFRID@hermes.usc.edu

1. Is "Oswin Bretwit" in *Pale Fire,* whose name Kinbote at one point
glosses as Zemblan for "Chess Intelligence," meant to unscramble as:
"B [i.e., black] writes to win"?
I've puzzled over it before and this is the best I can come up with.

2. The waxwing--which by its range clearly must be the Cedar and not the
Bohemian (so much for central European motifs!) is also an allusion
to Icarus, right?