p.s. You also
wrote: I'm interested
in the role of Gradus (that G, I recall, "equates" him to Shade/Kinbote
in your C=S=G lemma).
Yes, I meant to answer this earlier but forgot. The reason that I am
interested in S, K & G, is that it was when I saw those caps or
chaps with "new eyes" on the page headed Index, where they are
referred to as the three major characters of Pale Fire, I
realized this was the simplified statement of the riddle
I was looking for. As a mathematician you would know what this is
called, I don't. Anyway, I took it to mean that VN was challenging me
to understand why S, K and G should be called the major characters in
PF, when any normal reader would say that Shade, Sybil and Hazel were
the three major characters in the poem. I then thought VN wants me to
"solve for S, K and G". The rest took me only a half hour or so, but it
was an almost painful half-hour I must say.
p.p.s. I'm
disappointed. You weren't impressed by my mention of the two divine
Erics?