SK:This could be a reference to Leo Tolstoy’s “Death of Ivan Ilyich” (1886): All men die. Kay is a man. Therefore, Kay will die. But, thinks Ivan Ilyich, I’m not Kay; therefore, that doesn’t apply to me... The first part (about Kay) is an example of the type of syllogism called “Barbara” and Tolstoy probably took it from some textbook on logic ...

JM: That's exactly what I was looking for: John Shade's aside was a quotation, not a sentence derived from some text-book on Logic. The "subjective twist" was maintained. In the case of Duchamp's epitaph, "therefore, I won't die", a fresh distortion created his particular brand of irony.

I enjoyed a similar logic play in Arthur Schnitzler but he used the infinite regress ( If all drowning men see their lifes flash in front of them, then this moment must be also included and in the next flash it will also be included... u.s.w ). I often get the impression that some of his short-stories with alpine scenes ( I have "Fräulein Elsa" in mind now) are alluded in VN's later works, such as "Transparent Things".

For the same reason ( the "subjective twist" ) I appreciated both JF's remark and MR's.

The first wrote:I don't like the rhythm with "Kit Smart"./Anyway, Kinbote certainly suspects it refers to him. MR noted: Kinbote asks the right question: why couldn't Shade write it out?

Iohannis Rea (undersigned "Iohannis" but, if I now I designate him and his sentence & being no Latinist, there must be a variation I ignore ) wrote: "Any medievalist, and most Latinists, will recognize here the old "grammatical "joke", "Dicite grammitice...", why is the word "cunnus" masculine, and the word "mentula" feminine". He concluded: Or ought we to be "serious" and not entertain such puerile puns?

JM: John Rea brought up another interesting matter in relation to "subjectivity": the occasion when we must simply "entertain" puerile puns and when the time is ripe to voice them but we still shy away ( moving the undulating fold from im-plication towards ex-plication).

His apt ellucidation also illumined me over a particular qualm concerning the use of prepositions in English (... named by/for his master" ...prepositions in Latin often have "ambiguous" meanings.) Also about the feminine "mentula" ("little mind"? "pale fire"?) as being too weak to master her "Sun" ( i.e: Die Sonne, to quote a Kinbotean translation )

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