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David Powelstock:..." isn't it clear that Botkin imagines he is
Kinbote, and
at the same believes that Botkin is the fake (his "beard," his
disguise),
created so that he won't be tracked down and assassinated? ...In fact,
this
sort of reversal of "reality" and "fantasy" seems quite typical for
Nabokov,
even as early as Mashen'ka, although Ganin is able to return from his
soujourn into the remembered past. Luzhin, of course, is a classic
example.
Even HH's solipsism can be seen as another variation on this theme."
JM: Do you mean that Botkin is a paranoid psychotic with delusions of
grandeur and persecution, who is able to give shape to his repressed
homosexual fantasies through the invention of Kinbote/King Charles and
Zembla, while their "reality" ends up by crushing his conscious
knowledge of
his actually being Botkin?
It makes a lot of sense to me ( too much so). This makes me wonder if
Nabokov would have intended to render a classical "mad" character (even
while harboring a satirical intention)? Unless his creator's pride
chiefly
derived from having built Botkin/Kinbote's delusions, creating in rich
detail his behavior, hallucinations and Zemblan world, instead of
having
shaped him as a unique type. Besides, how would Shade, and his own
pathologies, fit into the picture?