Subject
Sergei against split personalities (response to JF responding to
MR)
MR)
From
Date
Body
[EDNOTE. Sergei Soloviev responds here to Jerry Friedman. It is hard
to keep track of the multiple voices contributing to this conversation!
SES]
I do not know to whom I am really answering, the signature was
missing...
What to my opinion is not satifactory in Shade MPD theory, there is
too much arbitrary selectivity -
When the opponents of this theory say that Kinbote is probably
mad Botkin, it is not the same as to say that he also has radically
split personality. There exist different forms of madness, and it
would
be better to be precise even when we speak about medical side
(by the way, show me please any victim of a stroke able to fantasize
wildly
soon after the event). In case of Kinbote
his "Botkin" personality is rather swallowed and transformed, not a
radically separated part,there is no
resistance from "Botkin", so there is no need to switch back and
forth.
The idea that he "has" to switch back and forth is just directly
transferred from their own (Shade MPD) theory.
He may very well teach in Russian department and think himself
very clever, telling himself that he is teaching "russian dialect" of
Zemblan for example. Many forms of madness (not MPD)
are associated with quite smart dissimilation, if a person
feels himself persecuted as Kinbote defintely does.
Also there are many forms of, say, schizofrenia when people are
extremely smart in creating sort of "correspondence tables", like
dictionaries for translation from "common tongue" to their
personal language. Every time he is adressed as "Botkin" he
may translate it as "Kinbote", and calling himself "Kinbote"
in his inner narration, still call himself Botkin for
outside world. (I remember some mystic hasidic stories developing
this idea).
The Shade MPD theory also doesn't answer the fundamental question
why Shade should be interested at all in questions that interest
Kinbote (if he is indeed a good and well known american poet,
if he lost his daughter in a tragic accident etc). If he is
not interested, there is no need to suppress this side...
Best regards,
Sergei Soloviev
> 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.
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
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to keep track of the multiple voices contributing to this conversation!
SES]
I do not know to whom I am really answering, the signature was
missing...
What to my opinion is not satifactory in Shade MPD theory, there is
too much arbitrary selectivity -
When the opponents of this theory say that Kinbote is probably
mad Botkin, it is not the same as to say that he also has radically
split personality. There exist different forms of madness, and it
would
be better to be precise even when we speak about medical side
(by the way, show me please any victim of a stroke able to fantasize
wildly
soon after the event). In case of Kinbote
his "Botkin" personality is rather swallowed and transformed, not a
radically separated part,there is no
resistance from "Botkin", so there is no need to switch back and
forth.
The idea that he "has" to switch back and forth is just directly
transferred from their own (Shade MPD) theory.
He may very well teach in Russian department and think himself
very clever, telling himself that he is teaching "russian dialect" of
Zemblan for example. Many forms of madness (not MPD)
are associated with quite smart dissimilation, if a person
feels himself persecuted as Kinbote defintely does.
Also there are many forms of, say, schizofrenia when people are
extremely smart in creating sort of "correspondence tables", like
dictionaries for translation from "common tongue" to their
personal language. Every time he is adressed as "Botkin" he
may translate it as "Kinbote", and calling himself "Kinbote"
in his inner narration, still call himself Botkin for
outside world. (I remember some mystic hasidic stories developing
this idea).
The Shade MPD theory also doesn't answer the fundamental question
why Shade should be interested at all in questions that interest
Kinbote (if he is indeed a good and well known american poet,
if he lost his daughter in a tragic accident etc). If he is
not interested, there is no need to suppress this side...
Best regards,
Sergei Soloviev
> 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.
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