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Kinbote's insanity
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In a message dated 12/02/2007 03:26:40 GMT Standard Time, jansy@AETERN.US
writes:
VN wrote in Strong Opinions: "I think it is so nice that the day on which
Kinbote committed suicide ( and he certainly did after putting the last touches
to his edition of the poem) happens to be both the anniversary of Pushkin's
Lyceum and that of "poor old man Swift" 's death, which is new to me ( but
see variant in note to line 231). In common with Pushkin, I am fascinated by
fatidic dates" (Vintage, pages 74/75)
Kinbote noted:Among the names of celebrated poets, painters, philosophers,
etc., known to have become insane or to have sunk into senile imbecility, we
find many suitable ones... Dark, disturbing thoughts. We can be certain
Kinbote considered the omitted name to be his and this means he perceived he was
insane, as already pointed out, but it also shows that he hoped he'd have
his sanity re-established in the Strange Other World, unless he should suffer a
re-incarnation*.
Still leaning towards the thought that the rejected variants were composed
by Kinbote himself, in order to draw further attention to himself in his
edition, it strikes me that inserting these variants would lengthen the verse
narrative beyond its 999 lines. Of course, Shade might have excised the variants
for this very reason. The return of the ending of the verse to its beginning
does actually echo Finnegans Wake. In the days when I still watched TV,
pre-1980, I once saw Evelyn Waugh remark in an interview that James Joyce spent
his life slowly going completely mad, and that you can see this quite clearly
in his writing; ie Finnegans Wake is the work of a madman, nearing his end.
Charles
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writes:
VN wrote in Strong Opinions: "I think it is so nice that the day on which
Kinbote committed suicide ( and he certainly did after putting the last touches
to his edition of the poem) happens to be both the anniversary of Pushkin's
Lyceum and that of "poor old man Swift" 's death, which is new to me ( but
see variant in note to line 231). In common with Pushkin, I am fascinated by
fatidic dates" (Vintage, pages 74/75)
Kinbote noted:Among the names of celebrated poets, painters, philosophers,
etc., known to have become insane or to have sunk into senile imbecility, we
find many suitable ones... Dark, disturbing thoughts. We can be certain
Kinbote considered the omitted name to be his and this means he perceived he was
insane, as already pointed out, but it also shows that he hoped he'd have
his sanity re-established in the Strange Other World, unless he should suffer a
re-incarnation*.
Still leaning towards the thought that the rejected variants were composed
by Kinbote himself, in order to draw further attention to himself in his
edition, it strikes me that inserting these variants would lengthen the verse
narrative beyond its 999 lines. Of course, Shade might have excised the variants
for this very reason. The return of the ending of the verse to its beginning
does actually echo Finnegans Wake. In the days when I still watched TV,
pre-1980, I once saw Evelyn Waugh remark in an interview that James Joyce spent
his life slowly going completely mad, and that you can see this quite clearly
in his writing; ie Finnegans Wake is the work of a madman, nearing his end.
Charles
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
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