"As we know, Nabokov liked to insert himself via word-play into his novels (i.e. Vivian Darkbloom, Vivian Bloodmark, Vivian Badlook). Where is Nabokov in this novel? Pnin, his character from the eponymous book seemed very like Nabokov, as does Professor Botkin. In fact, they seem to be the same person. While adding more to the befogging than clarification, Nabokov said in an interview that Pale Fire was:. . ."
The wording of your comment is a little confusing and does in fact mention Pnin.
The Kinbote/Botkin/king-bot/botfly connections have previously been worked over very thoroughly.
Sam Gwynn
-----Original Message-----
From: Mary Ross <maryross.illustrator@GMAIL.COM>
To: NABOKV-L <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
Sent: Fri, Aug 11, 2017 3:38 pm
Subject: Re: [NABOKV-L] Botkin=Nabokov - Proof?
Hello Sam,
I am not sure why you are mentioning Pnin, when I did not. I don't see him as Nabokov, nor as Botkin.
As for my "word-golf", for Botkin/Nabokov, this is not technically the step-ladder word golf that Kinbote mentions; it is another form of word play. It is easier to demonstrate and comprehend if I have a way to highlight the letters, which I can't do on the list serve.
If you take the letters that are common to both names and then rearrange them as an anagram, they can "nearly" be arranged to spell Nabokov's name. I liken this to "near rhymes" in poetry and suggest that Nabokov had done something similar with "Van Bock".
I find this intriguing, as it would be highly unlikely that this could be done with any two random names.
Mary
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