''Vladimir Nabokov's Comic Quest for Reality' - Nottingham eTheses
''Vladimir Nabokov's Comic Quest for Reality' - Nottingham eTheses ''Vladimir Nabokov's Comic Quest for Reality' - Nottingham eTheses
- 219 - More hints are dropped which reveal that he only imagines this, that he is rea11y one of the professors (Botkin) of Wordsmith College, that he is probably mad, and that he has for some reason made up this fantastic past for himself. Persons and incidents from his present life and surroundings go into the making of this imaginary past. Gradus, for example, the third principal character, an extremist despatched from Zembla to kill the king and killing Shade instead through a fatal mistake, by and by turns out to be a criminal lunatic who has escaped from the asylum to revenge himself on the judge who committed him. Besides those critics who reacted with outraged comments to this5, there are others who were not so much exasperated as amused, and at the same time ready to acknowledge Pale Fire as one of the great pieces of literature of this century. K. Allsop pays tribute to both its difficulties and its uniqueness6, and so does Mary McCarthy: 'Pale Fire' is a Jack-in-the box, ..., a clockwork toy, a chess problem, an infernal machine, a trap*to catch reviewers, a cat-Ind-mouse game, a do-ityourself novel. Her detailed analysis ends in enthusiastic praise: this ... centaur-work of Nabokov's... is a creation of perfect beauty, symmetry, strangeness, originality, and, moral truth. Pretending to be a curio, it cannot disguise the fact that it is one of the very great works of art of this century, the modern novel that everyone thought was8dead and that was only playing possum. I
- 220 - The individual parts have provoked comments just as varied9, and Nabokov himself and his moral attitude when composing Pale Fire have been objects of both doubt and admiration. 10 Shade's poem, if taken by itself, does not present too much of a problem. The difficulties of Kinbote's story, too, can be overcome. He plants hints and clues quite generously, and with their help and some combinational talent it is possible to connect the various bits of the puzzle of his invented story and thus to arrive at the real story behind it and to recognize the levels of truth and reality in it, which are rather blurred at first. The basic questions, those that most tease and puzzle the reader and have given rise to irritation on the one side and to amused bewilderment or admiration on the other side, are those which concern the novel as a whole: the relation between the two principal characters, Shade and Kinbote; the relation between the two main parts, the poem and the commentary (there seems to be no connection at all), and the meaning of it all. A number of critics have arrived at the conclusion that Pale Fire is a malicious satire on scholars and scholarly editorial work, using parody as its medium, and have left it at that ll, and this is a plausible enough conclusion if the work is taken at its face value, for with its four parts it mimicks the form of a scholarly edition of a poem perfectly. Foreword, commentary and index all give the impression that here a diligent and conscientious scholarly editor
- Page 175 and 176: - 169 - What were the things that r
- Page 177 and 178: - 171 share", as a good biographer
- Page 179 and 180: - 173 - seems to him too colourless
- Page 181 and 182: 175 - parody of what Stegner calls
- Page 183 and 184: - 177 - that lead to it, he is sing
- Page 185 and 186: - 179 - the time during which he li
- Page 187 and 188: - 181 - France. He is tormented by
- Page 189 and 190: - 183 - on the last page of the nov
- Page 191 and 192: - 185 - what he wants to find, that
- Page 193 and 194: - 187 - would not see him. Somewhat
- Page 195 and 196: - 189 - he falls back on passages f
- Page 197 and 198: - 191 - ticism as one possible way
- Page 199 and 200: - 193 - The passages betray not onl
- Page 201 and 202: - 195 - This "mental jerk" grants k
- Page 203 and 204: - 197 - clear, and the harmony and
- Page 205 and 206: - 199 - initiated the insight. In l
- Page 207 and 208: - 201 - himself, and in it V appear
- Page 209 and 210: - 203 - novels of Sebastian Knight,
- Page 211 and 212: - 205 - All those that knew Sebasti
- Page 213 and 214: - 207 - in his opinion not have for
- Page 215 and 216: - 209 - others as his remoteness an
- Page 217 and 218: - 210 - THEDEFENCE R. H. W. Dillard
- Page 219 and 220: - 212 - his own future, and it beco
- Page 221 and 222: - 214 - Unlike Shade, however, Luzh
- Page 223 and 224: - 216 - has recognized as the basic
- Page 225: - 218 - The sensitive reader dislik
- Page 229 and 230: - 222 - for the overall comic effec
- Page 231 and 232: - 224 - Americans of today. "24 He
- Page 233 and 234: - 226 - learn anything, to wrap it
- Page 235 and 236: - 228 - exhausted. Kinbote uses it
- Page 237 and 238: - 230 - (24-25). He talks about how
- Page 239 and 240: - 232 - "Parents" (1,71), "my bedro
- Page 241 and 242: - 234 - commentary, and they also o
- Page 243 and 244: - 236 - forbidden knowledge of whic
- Page 245 and 246: - 238 - than he thought it was46: B
- Page 247 and 248: - 240 - following the road of its r
- Page 249 and 250: - 242 - actually sees Kinbote, lose
- Page 251 and 252: - 244 - emerges that the man whom h
- Page 253 and 254: - 246 - sions, shows that even the
- Page 255 and 256: - 248 - superficially is about. He
- Page 257 and 258: - 250 - "really" Kinbote who has wr
- Page 259 and 260: - 252 - standing' of the poem do no
- Page 261 and 262: - 254 - Shade mentions a famous fil
- Page 263 and 264: - 256 - is left-handed (180) and he
- Page 265 and 266: - 258 - The sea's a thief, whose li
- Page 267 and 268: - 260 - much a person even on the l
- Page 269 and 270: - 262 - In the relationship between
- Page 271 and 272: - 264 - even for his own death. It
- Page 273 and 274: - 266 - TRANSPARENT THINGS An old N
- Page 275 and 276: - 268 - the name as if it were simp
-<br />
219<br />
-<br />
More hints are dropped which reveal that he only imagines<br />
this, that he is rea11y one of the<br />
professors (Botkin) of Wordsmith College, that he is<br />
probably mad, and that he has <strong>for</strong> some reason made<br />
up this fantastic past <strong>for</strong> himself. Persons and incidents<br />
from his present life and surroundings go<br />
into the making of this imaginary past. Gradus, <strong>for</strong><br />
example, the third principal character, an extremist<br />
despatched from Zembla to kill the king and killing<br />
Shade instead through a fatal mistake, by and by<br />
turns out to be a criminal lunatic who has escaped<br />
from the asylum to revenge himself on the judge who<br />
committed<br />
him.<br />
Besides those critics who reacted with outraged<br />
comments to this5, there are others who were not so<br />
much exasperated as amused, and at the same time<br />
ready to acknowledge Pale Fire as one of the great<br />
pieces of literature of this century. K. Allsop pays<br />
tribute to both its difficulties and its uniqueness6,<br />
and so does<br />
Mary McCarthy:<br />
'Pale Fire' is a Jack-in-the box,<br />
...,<br />
a clockwork toy, a chess problem, an<br />
infernal machine, a trap*to catch reviewers,<br />
a cat-Ind-mouse game, a do-ityourself<br />
novel.<br />
Her detailed analysis ends in enthusiastic praise:<br />
this<br />
... centaur-work of <strong>Nabokov's</strong>...<br />
is a creation of perfect beauty, symmetry,<br />
strangeness, originality, and,<br />
moral truth. Pretending to be a curio,<br />
it cannot disguise the fact that it<br />
is one of the very great works of art<br />
of this century, the modern novel that<br />
everyone thought was8dead and that was<br />
only playing possum.<br />
I