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Re: JF to MR re: split personalities in PF
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Jerry Friedman wrote:
"Technically, by the way, I don't believe the Botkin reading is
MPD. Botkin acquires the delusion that he's Kinbote the ex-king,
but we don't see him switch back and forth between B. and K."
But he must switch back and forth (assuming for the moment that he is
not a
figment of Shade's psyche). If he is Kinbote all the time, what
department
does he teach in at Wordsmith? Is there really a Zemblan dept.? This
brings
home one of the reasons I've never found the traditional (Shade and
Kinbote
as separate characters) theory of the novel satisfying. I simply can't
imagine how Kinbote/Botkin would be able to keep his job for more than a
day. If Kinbote's delusional state is constant, as JF asserts above, he
would scarcely be able to teach Zemblan at Wordsmith. If, on the other
hand, he exists as Botkin at Wordsmith, how do we reconcile all the
scenes
where he clearly identifies himself to others as Charles Kinbote? I
can't
imagine the college would sit by while someone who is clearly and openly
insane teaches there. And why would Shade be so unfazed? This has
always
been a problem with the novel for me, and one more reason I'm drawn to
the
Shade MPD theory.
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"Technically, by the way, I don't believe the Botkin reading is
MPD. Botkin acquires the delusion that he's Kinbote the ex-king,
but we don't see him switch back and forth between B. and K."
But he must switch back and forth (assuming for the moment that he is
not a
figment of Shade's psyche). If he is Kinbote all the time, what
department
does he teach in at Wordsmith? Is there really a Zemblan dept.? This
brings
home one of the reasons I've never found the traditional (Shade and
Kinbote
as separate characters) theory of the novel satisfying. I simply can't
imagine how Kinbote/Botkin would be able to keep his job for more than a
day. If Kinbote's delusional state is constant, as JF asserts above, he
would scarcely be able to teach Zemblan at Wordsmith. If, on the other
hand, he exists as Botkin at Wordsmith, how do we reconcile all the
scenes
where he clearly identifies himself to others as Charles Kinbote? I
can't
imagine the college would sit by while someone who is clearly and openly
insane teaches there. And why would Shade be so unfazed? This has
always
been a problem with the novel for me, and one more reason I'm drawn to
the
Shade MPD theory.
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