Subject
DN replies to Anthony Stadlen re: circular structure of Pale Fire
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Reply for Anthony Stadlen:
No, I fear you disremember, or my answer was unclear. Nothing,
specifically, to do with Pale Fire, except the concept of circular
structure. As VN was finishing Dar, "a small satellite separated itself
from the main body of the novel and started to revolve around
it. . . Technically, the circle which the present corollary describes
(its
last sentence existing implicitly before its first one) belongs to the
same serpent-biting-its-tail type as the circular structure of the
fourth chapter in Dar (or, for that matter, Finnegan's Wake, which it
preceded). (From note to "The Circle" in Stories)
Cordially,
DN
>Dmitri Nabokov, answering my question about this some months ago, said
that his father had at an early stage pointed out the "round the corner"
nature" of the last line, but he has not yet answered my question just
what he or his father meant by that, or whether that acutally implies
line 1000 = line 1 in the mindof Shade or of VN (or indeed DN)
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No, I fear you disremember, or my answer was unclear. Nothing,
specifically, to do with Pale Fire, except the concept of circular
structure. As VN was finishing Dar, "a small satellite separated itself
from the main body of the novel and started to revolve around
it. . . Technically, the circle which the present corollary describes
(its
last sentence existing implicitly before its first one) belongs to the
same serpent-biting-its-tail type as the circular structure of the
fourth chapter in Dar (or, for that matter, Finnegan's Wake, which it
preceded). (From note to "The Circle" in Stories)
Cordially,
DN
>Dmitri Nabokov, answering my question about this some months ago, said
that his father had at an early stage pointed out the "round the corner"
nature" of the last line, but he has not yet answered my question just
what he or his father meant by that, or whether that acutally implies
line 1000 = line 1 in the mindof Shade or of VN (or indeed DN)
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