Part two is favorite part of Kinbote himself and in his habitual pretense he assumes that it must be a favorite of *any* reader.

Dear George,

Jansy made the same point to me off the List. I wondered why if that were the case, Kinbote wouldn't have said "Canto II, my favorite"?  Can you find another instance in which Kinbote - - or Shade for that matter, addresses the reader? Shade often addresses Sybil in the poem of course, which is why "Canto II, your favorite" sounds like him.

By the way, as you pointed out, this isn't the only example of this sort. I recall that in the commentary, Kinbote occasionally addresses a doctor, which makes sense to me since I think he is incarcerated in a mental institution at the time he is writing.

Carolyn



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