In a message dated 10/3/2007 3:10:55 PM Central Daylight Time, NABOKV-L@HOLYCROSS.EDU writes:

Alexey asked: Is Kinbote a Professor of Russian? The head of the department
to which Kinbote belongs is Prof. Nattochdag, not Prof. Pnin, the head of
the Russian department.

MR: No, a thousand times no! Kinbote does not teach Russian. I have seen
this mistake in at least two other published articles, as well. I quote
from Kinbote's note to line 691, where Sylvia O'Donnell addresses Kinbote:
"I'm sure you'll like it up there [at Wordsmith] though I wish I could
figure out why anybody should be so keen on teaching Zemblan." That of
course does not answer the question of what Kinbote/Botkin really teaches,
but it's not Russian or English. I think most speculation has pointed to his
being part of a Scandinavian Studies dept., no?

P. 281: "You'll find him, I'm sure, in North West Three where we have the Icelandic Collection." Of course, the only authority we have on this is Kinbote who, if he was present, was soon seen "crossing over {the open gallery] at a quick military march from east to west." Nicely symbolic directions, by the way. C. K. explicitly gives us the information that he does not teach Russian.

What does Nattochdag mean in Norse languages, by the way?

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