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Botkin/Kinbote/Shade & the versipel muse
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John Shade is a rather provincial American poet. So ... how could he
impersonate Kinbote? Psychotic breakdowns never improve one's cultural
references and syntax. Jansy
Dear Jansy,
John Shade seems to be a rather provincial American poet. But I think this
is Nabokov being intentionally misleading. Shade's mother's maiden name,
Lukin, is ambiguous - - it could be British as Kinbote advises, or it could
very well be Russian, as I think VN meant it to be.
Charles Kinbote's name is in part derived from Hyde's first misadventure in
the RLS story,* but also from his mother's name: Carolyn (fem. form of
Charles) Lukin So it could be that "the scholar of Russian descent" (i.e.
Botkin/Kinbote) is actually Shade.
The John Shade personality I believe suppressed his knowledge of Russian
along with his homosexuality and sent them both to "Zembla" as "King
Charles."
I don't believe that Shade impersonates Kinbote, he is Kinbote. Or to be
more precise, Kinbote is a part of Shade, just as VN describes Hyde as being
a part of Jekyll in his lecture on the story.
If you (or anyone else) still find this difficult to accept, may I ask you
to tell me why you think this provincial American poet has for his muse a
versipel, who I believe he says, is always with him. What can he possibly
mean by it?
Carolyn (lu)K(un)in
* in which Jekyll/Hyde is forced to pay retribution or kinbote to a child's
family for injuring her
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impersonate Kinbote? Psychotic breakdowns never improve one's cultural
references and syntax. Jansy
Dear Jansy,
John Shade seems to be a rather provincial American poet. But I think this
is Nabokov being intentionally misleading. Shade's mother's maiden name,
Lukin, is ambiguous - - it could be British as Kinbote advises, or it could
very well be Russian, as I think VN meant it to be.
Charles Kinbote's name is in part derived from Hyde's first misadventure in
the RLS story,* but also from his mother's name: Carolyn (fem. form of
Charles) Lukin So it could be that "the scholar of Russian descent" (i.e.
Botkin/Kinbote) is actually Shade.
The John Shade personality I believe suppressed his knowledge of Russian
along with his homosexuality and sent them both to "Zembla" as "King
Charles."
I don't believe that Shade impersonates Kinbote, he is Kinbote. Or to be
more precise, Kinbote is a part of Shade, just as VN describes Hyde as being
a part of Jekyll in his lecture on the story.
If you (or anyone else) still find this difficult to accept, may I ask you
to tell me why you think this provincial American poet has for his muse a
versipel, who I believe he says, is always with him. What can he possibly
mean by it?
Carolyn (lu)K(un)in
* in which Jekyll/Hyde is forced to pay retribution or kinbote to a child's
family for injuring her
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