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Re: from Ron Rosenbaum re "Pale Fire" & EDNote
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I'm not going to reread Brian's PF book (for the third or fourth time),
but, to recapitulate, he has never denied Shade as the author of "Pale Fire"
(the poem). When, in VN: TAY he set forth the "Shadean" thesis, he proposed
that Shade had written all of Pale Fire (poem and novel). This is the position
he abandoned, proposing that Shade was the author of the poem only. In his
book on Pale Fire he does not propose that Hazel "wrote" the poem but that
her ghost (real or imagined by JS and, perhaps, SS) was indeed a presence in
Shade's final days, perhaps summoned up by his account of her life and
death, and affected the poem that he wrote. Some of this ghostly presence may be
manifest in jokes on the interfering Kinbote (the cat's collar, for example)
and others like the appearance of the butterfly at the end (though Shade's
writing about the butterfly precedes by at least some hours his actual
death).
It's clear that Hazel Shade was, when alive, interested in making contact
with the "other world," as the episode in the barn (recreated by CK from
Shade's account) make clear. It also seems clear that the poltergeist events
(again recreated by CK from Shade's account) were related to her; many reported
(or reputed) poltergeist episodes center on young females, particularly
those who are psychologically troubled.
"The Vane Sisters" is a VN story that contains a "message" from the other
side. Whether or not VN actually believed in such matters is beside the
point; if he'd had The Discovery Channel he could have watched all kinds of shows
that present this evidence, but stuff of a similar nature was widely
reported in popular magazines of the 50s and 60s. The Search for Bridey Murphy
was, after all, a huge best-seller. Many of us are intrigued by such evidence
but aren't totally convinced (nor do I suspect VN was–grist for an author's
mill does not always yield the Bread of Life). The late James Merrill wrote
an epic-length poem in which he claimed that much of it was dictated (in
all-caps) by presences (among them W. H. Auden) who were summoned up via a Ouija
Board wielded by JM and his partner, David Jackson. Yeats, to cite yet
another example, was also fascinated by such matters.
The Arion Press edition, as I noted in an earlier post, was a limited
(fewer than 300 copies) fine press edition that sold for $600, aimed at the
collectors' market. The Gingko project is not like this at all.
From the outset, all involved in this project have proceeded from the idea
that the poem (which Brian, I, and others consider a brilliant tour de
force) is the work of Vladimir Nabokov, who has adopted the fictional persona of
"John Shade" as its author. Publishing the poem by itself as a significant
piece of 20th century poetry relieves us of the task of discussing it in the
larger context of the novel. We both consider the poem a major artistic
achievement and certainly VN's most significant poem in English. Though some
continue to argue about whether the poem was written by John Shade, Charles
Kinbote, or Hazel Shade, one thing remains clear: it was undoubtedly written by
Vladimir Nabokov.
I trust that Brian will read this and correct anything I have said
regarding his fine book on Pale Fire, even though any thesis about authorship being
other than VN is irrelevant as far as the Gingko project is concerned.
Sam Gwynn
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/
but, to recapitulate, he has never denied Shade as the author of "Pale Fire"
(the poem). When, in VN: TAY he set forth the "Shadean" thesis, he proposed
that Shade had written all of Pale Fire (poem and novel). This is the position
he abandoned, proposing that Shade was the author of the poem only. In his
book on Pale Fire he does not propose that Hazel "wrote" the poem but that
her ghost (real or imagined by JS and, perhaps, SS) was indeed a presence in
Shade's final days, perhaps summoned up by his account of her life and
death, and affected the poem that he wrote. Some of this ghostly presence may be
manifest in jokes on the interfering Kinbote (the cat's collar, for example)
and others like the appearance of the butterfly at the end (though Shade's
writing about the butterfly precedes by at least some hours his actual
death).
It's clear that Hazel Shade was, when alive, interested in making contact
with the "other world," as the episode in the barn (recreated by CK from
Shade's account) make clear. It also seems clear that the poltergeist events
(again recreated by CK from Shade's account) were related to her; many reported
(or reputed) poltergeist episodes center on young females, particularly
those who are psychologically troubled.
"The Vane Sisters" is a VN story that contains a "message" from the other
side. Whether or not VN actually believed in such matters is beside the
point; if he'd had The Discovery Channel he could have watched all kinds of shows
that present this evidence, but stuff of a similar nature was widely
reported in popular magazines of the 50s and 60s. The Search for Bridey Murphy
was, after all, a huge best-seller. Many of us are intrigued by such evidence
but aren't totally convinced (nor do I suspect VN was–grist for an author's
mill does not always yield the Bread of Life). The late James Merrill wrote
an epic-length poem in which he claimed that much of it was dictated (in
all-caps) by presences (among them W. H. Auden) who were summoned up via a Ouija
Board wielded by JM and his partner, David Jackson. Yeats, to cite yet
another example, was also fascinated by such matters.
The Arion Press edition, as I noted in an earlier post, was a limited
(fewer than 300 copies) fine press edition that sold for $600, aimed at the
collectors' market. The Gingko project is not like this at all.
From the outset, all involved in this project have proceeded from the idea
that the poem (which Brian, I, and others consider a brilliant tour de
force) is the work of Vladimir Nabokov, who has adopted the fictional persona of
"John Shade" as its author. Publishing the poem by itself as a significant
piece of 20th century poetry relieves us of the task of discussing it in the
larger context of the novel. We both consider the poem a major artistic
achievement and certainly VN's most significant poem in English. Though some
continue to argue about whether the poem was written by John Shade, Charles
Kinbote, or Hazel Shade, one thing remains clear: it was undoubtedly written by
Vladimir Nabokov.
I trust that Brian will read this and correct anything I have said
regarding his fine book on Pale Fire, even though any thesis about authorship being
other than VN is irrelevant as far as the Gingko project is concerned.
Sam Gwynn
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/