Dear Anthony,

I'll only follow up on two of the quotes you sent (for fear of becoming a bore)
Carolyn

John Shade in Pale Fire leads an intense inner existence, far removed from what you call a joke. You must be confusing me with Dostoevski.

Surely Kinbote leads at least as intense an inner existence as Shade does - - and certainly more colorful. I don't understand your point, however.

Do you make a point of puzzling people and playing games with readers?

What a bore that would be!

And I take it that you take this seriously?!

Carolyn

Kinbote's inner existence is hardly far removed from what I, at any rate, call a joke. If Kinbote and Shade are both aspects of one person, then that person has an inner existence part of which is not far removed from a joke. This contradicts what VN says. Or do you actually believe there are separate "persons" in the one person? As a psychotherapist, I think this is nonsense. "Multiple personality" is as much a racket as the symbolism VN lambasted.

 

And I do take seriously, as I believe Brian Boyd does, what VN says about how boring it would be to puzzle readers and play games with them for its own sake, as opposed to inviting them to think hard about complex questions of life and art.

 

You have ignored the quote I gave you from "Strong Opinions" of VN on Kinbote's suicide. But this, like what VN says about Shade, has the unmistakeable ring of a statement about a person, not of a statement about one of the "personalities" of a "multiple personality". 

 

Anthony