Subject
Re: Nabokov on Botkin,
From
Date
Body
Thanks to Andrea Pitzer for the quotation about Shade's inner life.
Thanks also to Gary Lipon for supplying the quotation from the Herald Tribune. I
remember seeing this somewhere before, but I can't now remember where. It is, I
think, a key text, on the same level, perhaps, as Dmitri Nabokov's letter to the
List dated January 8, 1998 (available in the Archives) with the subject line
Dmitri Nabokov on the PF Narrator issue.
This letter was the culmination of some intense discussion of the narrator
question. Boyd's Shadean view was ably countered by letters from Charles Nicol
(December 23, 1997) and Mary Bellino (December 24, 1997). And of course Boyd
himself later abandoned the Shadean interpretation in his indispensable book on
Pale Fire.
All of these valuable sources are, it seems to me, relevant to some of the views
Gary has been expressing and to some of the questions he has been asking.
Dmitri's letter resurfaced on the List in August 2006. On August 28, 2006, Jerry
Friedman responded to Dmitri in his characteristically thoughtful fashion
(Subject line: DN on PF in 1998).
At this point I would like to ask for some help. Stephen Blackwell appended this
note to Jerry's letter:
EDNote: There is an interview, in Strong Opinions and not at my fingertips, in
which VN tells an interviewer (a scholar, I believe) that the suggestion he
makes about a certain pattern was not in his plan for the given work, and that
it was either a chance event or a product of unconscious inspiration, whithout
which, he says, art and its appreciation would not be worthwhile. Perhaps that
resolves the question somewhat? ~SB
If someone can provide the details of this interview--i.e., where it can be
found in SO--I would be grateful.
Finally, to Jerry Friedman, I want to take you up on your offer to provide "A
phrase about ghost stories, either due to or about Henry James." If it's not too
much bother at this late date, could you find this quote and send it to me?
Thank you.
Jim Twiggs
________________________________
From: Andrea Pitzer <andrea.pitzer@GMAIL.COM>
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Sent: Fri, August 13, 2010 1:15:45 PM
Subject: Re: [NABOKV-L] Nabokov on Botkin,
In reference to GSL's request about the inner life of John Shade:
As to the lives of my characters, not all are grotesque and not all are tragic:
Fyodor in The Gift is blessed with a faithful love and an early recognition of
his genius; John Shade in Pale Fire leads an intense inner existence, far
removed from what you call a joke. You must be confusing me with Dostoevski.
(p. 119, at the end of a BBC-2 interview with Nicholas Graham, Strong Opinions)
Hope that helps.
Andrea
On Fri, Aug 13, 2010 at 1:29 PM, G S Lipon <glipon@innerlea.com> wrote:
>
>On Aug 10, 2010, at 5:08 PM, R. Rosenbaum wrote:
>
>And so I'd repeat VN's fairly non-ambiguous words...:
>>
>>"At the end of his 1962 diary, Nabokov drafted some phrases for possible
>>interviews:
'I wonder if any reader will notice the following details: 1) that the nasty
commentator is not an ex-King and not even Dr. Kinbote but Prof. Vseslav Botkin,
a Russian and a madman …'"
>
>
>–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
>Just for the record,
>apparently Nabokov actually spoke these words, verbatum in fact;
>or handed as an index card with the words written out on it to an interviewer.
>I have a reference to an interview in the New York Herald Tribune Books section,
>June 17, 1962
> BOOKS AND AUTHORS By Maurice Dolbier. McCarthy's review, btw, ran in The New
>Republic, June 4, 1962.
>
>
>"It is jollier than the others," he said, "and it is full of plums that I
>>keep hoping somebody will find. For instance, the nasty commentator is not
>>an ex-King of Zembla nor is he Professor Kinbote. He is Professor Botkin, or
>>Botkine, a Russian and a madman. His commentary has a number of notes
>>dealing with entomology, ornithology, and botany. The reviewers have said
>>that I worked my favorite subjects into this novel. What they have not
>>discovered is that Botkin knows nothing about them, and all his notes are
>>frightfully erroneous. . . . No one has noted that my commentator committed
>>suicide before completing the index to the book. The last entry has no
>>numbered reference. . . . And even Mary McCarthy, who has discovered more in
>>the book than most of its critics, had some difficulty in locating the
>>source of its title, and made the mistake of searching for it in 'The
>>Tempest.' It is from 'Timon of Athens.' The moon's an arrant thief she
>>snatches her pale fire from the sun.' I hope that pointing out these things
>>will perhaps help the reader to enjoy my novel better."
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
What I'm currently searching about for though is where VN describes Shade as a
"complex character", or of possessing a "rich inner life", or something of that
ilk. Any help would be appreciated.
–GSL
>Search the archive Contact the Editors Visit "Nabokov Online Journal"
>Visit Zembla View Nabokv-L Policies Manage subscription options
>All private editorial communications, without exception, are read by both
>co-editors.
>
Search the archive Contact the Editors Visit "Nabokov Online Journal"
Visit Zembla View Nabokv-L Policies Manage subscription options
All private editorial communications, without exception, are read by both
co-editors.
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/
Thanks also to Gary Lipon for supplying the quotation from the Herald Tribune. I
remember seeing this somewhere before, but I can't now remember where. It is, I
think, a key text, on the same level, perhaps, as Dmitri Nabokov's letter to the
List dated January 8, 1998 (available in the Archives) with the subject line
Dmitri Nabokov on the PF Narrator issue.
This letter was the culmination of some intense discussion of the narrator
question. Boyd's Shadean view was ably countered by letters from Charles Nicol
(December 23, 1997) and Mary Bellino (December 24, 1997). And of course Boyd
himself later abandoned the Shadean interpretation in his indispensable book on
Pale Fire.
All of these valuable sources are, it seems to me, relevant to some of the views
Gary has been expressing and to some of the questions he has been asking.
Dmitri's letter resurfaced on the List in August 2006. On August 28, 2006, Jerry
Friedman responded to Dmitri in his characteristically thoughtful fashion
(Subject line: DN on PF in 1998).
At this point I would like to ask for some help. Stephen Blackwell appended this
note to Jerry's letter:
EDNote: There is an interview, in Strong Opinions and not at my fingertips, in
which VN tells an interviewer (a scholar, I believe) that the suggestion he
makes about a certain pattern was not in his plan for the given work, and that
it was either a chance event or a product of unconscious inspiration, whithout
which, he says, art and its appreciation would not be worthwhile. Perhaps that
resolves the question somewhat? ~SB
If someone can provide the details of this interview--i.e., where it can be
found in SO--I would be grateful.
Finally, to Jerry Friedman, I want to take you up on your offer to provide "A
phrase about ghost stories, either due to or about Henry James." If it's not too
much bother at this late date, could you find this quote and send it to me?
Thank you.
Jim Twiggs
________________________________
From: Andrea Pitzer <andrea.pitzer@GMAIL.COM>
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Sent: Fri, August 13, 2010 1:15:45 PM
Subject: Re: [NABOKV-L] Nabokov on Botkin,
In reference to GSL's request about the inner life of John Shade:
As to the lives of my characters, not all are grotesque and not all are tragic:
Fyodor in The Gift is blessed with a faithful love and an early recognition of
his genius; John Shade in Pale Fire leads an intense inner existence, far
removed from what you call a joke. You must be confusing me with Dostoevski.
(p. 119, at the end of a BBC-2 interview with Nicholas Graham, Strong Opinions)
Hope that helps.
Andrea
On Fri, Aug 13, 2010 at 1:29 PM, G S Lipon <glipon@innerlea.com> wrote:
>
>On Aug 10, 2010, at 5:08 PM, R. Rosenbaum wrote:
>
>And so I'd repeat VN's fairly non-ambiguous words...:
>>
>>"At the end of his 1962 diary, Nabokov drafted some phrases for possible
>>interviews:
'I wonder if any reader will notice the following details: 1) that the nasty
commentator is not an ex-King and not even Dr. Kinbote but Prof. Vseslav Botkin,
a Russian and a madman …'"
>
>
>–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
>Just for the record,
>apparently Nabokov actually spoke these words, verbatum in fact;
>or handed as an index card with the words written out on it to an interviewer.
>I have a reference to an interview in the New York Herald Tribune Books section,
>June 17, 1962
> BOOKS AND AUTHORS By Maurice Dolbier. McCarthy's review, btw, ran in The New
>Republic, June 4, 1962.
>
>
>"It is jollier than the others," he said, "and it is full of plums that I
>>keep hoping somebody will find. For instance, the nasty commentator is not
>>an ex-King of Zembla nor is he Professor Kinbote. He is Professor Botkin, or
>>Botkine, a Russian and a madman. His commentary has a number of notes
>>dealing with entomology, ornithology, and botany. The reviewers have said
>>that I worked my favorite subjects into this novel. What they have not
>>discovered is that Botkin knows nothing about them, and all his notes are
>>frightfully erroneous. . . . No one has noted that my commentator committed
>>suicide before completing the index to the book. The last entry has no
>>numbered reference. . . . And even Mary McCarthy, who has discovered more in
>>the book than most of its critics, had some difficulty in locating the
>>source of its title, and made the mistake of searching for it in 'The
>>Tempest.' It is from 'Timon of Athens.' The moon's an arrant thief she
>>snatches her pale fire from the sun.' I hope that pointing out these things
>>will perhaps help the reader to enjoy my novel better."
–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
What I'm currently searching about for though is where VN describes Shade as a
"complex character", or of possessing a "rich inner life", or something of that
ilk. Any help would be appreciated.
–GSL
>Search the archive Contact the Editors Visit "Nabokov Online Journal"
>Visit Zembla View Nabokv-L Policies Manage subscription options
>All private editorial communications, without exception, are read by both
>co-editors.
>
Search the archive Contact the Editors Visit "Nabokov Online Journal"
Visit Zembla View Nabokv-L Policies Manage subscription options
All private editorial communications, without exception, are read by both
co-editors.
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/