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My deepest Grammaci, James. I feel quite depressed
that I've been bantering away on Pale Fire
without the prior benefit of your insights.
Recall the artist in Kai Lung Unrolls His Mat?
Having encountered a masterwork, "He immediately
burnt the implements of his craft and took up life
anew as a trainer of Elephants." (Paraphrased from
ancient memories. BTW: were you born before the
crash of 1929? If so, well done. I'll be four-score
if I make it through to next September. No BOLD
Fet[t]schrift by request.
Re-Mr/Dr, (i) Harley Street (and other UK?) surgeons
are always addressed as Mr. Last week I was warned
that my new vascular consultant was NOT Dr Fox but
Mr Fox. Get it right or suffer scorn!
(ii) at Cambridge, only PhDs Cantab are
known as Doctors. Outside, that is, lesser,
PhDs remain Mr until you reach Professor.
PF theories are not subject to the mathematical
rigor of my trade. Nevertheless, certain basic rules
of "plausible deduction" must prevail, with special
care not to "cherry pick" the evidence. And this, after
all, is a book that mocks Kinbote, the worst of literary
doryphores. As with Shakespeare's warning:
AMI "What's that 'ducdame'?"
JAQ "Tis a Greek invocation to call fools into a circle"
(As You Like It, II 5)
So, does CK's theory
need those fanciful letter-shape
distractions. Yes, Cyrillic C = English S, and
English C can make a K sound as well as being
but a serif away from G. But VN's choice
of names (Shade, Kinbote/Botkin, Gradus) are
sufficiently evocative without arbitrary juggling
with their first letters. The problem is where to
draw the line. Is that cruel Sybil Shade a member of
the dreaded SS (Schutzstaffel) or simply enjoying a
pleasant SS (Sommersemester) on hubby's campus?
Some time ago I posed the question "Is VN a better
poet than John Shade?" without being aware of previous
debates on this topic. I'm glad to see James's comments.
It does seem that Shade's Cantos are admirably crafted
for the PF framework. Warts and all, in fact, they are
"set up" precisely to support Kinbote's annotational
fantasies.
We certainly could imagine many lines appearing in a
VN poetry anthology, but not all four Cantos as a
finished VN poem.
CTaH