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Question for non-integrationists on PF
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I have a sincere (truly!) question or two for those who see Shade and
Kinbote as separate people within the real world of New Wye.
1. What do you think about those portions of the text which seem to
unite
Kinbote and Shade's narratives? Four examples: Shade's "not text, but
texture" epiphany, which seems a better description of VN's PF than
Shade's
poem alone; the coincidence of the black boy pushing the clockwork
wheelbarrow and the black gardener (we learn from Kinbote) pushing the
wheelbarrow just before Shade's death; "Man's life as commentary to
abstruse / Unfinished poem"; Zembla's appearance (via Pope, we assume)
in
Shade's poem and Kinbote's Zembla fantasy. Are these all just
incredible
coincidences? Dramatic irony? VN, outside the real world of the novel,
dropping meta clues?
2. One compelling argument by nonintegrationists is that when we
collapse
Kinbote and Shade's characters into one, we lose our enjoyment of the
interplay b/w Kinbote and Shade. That being so, do nonintegrationists
also
find all the scenes with (imaginary)Gradus--many of which are very
detailed
and action-oriented--unsatisfying? Less satisfying?
Matthew Roth
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Kinbote as separate people within the real world of New Wye.
1. What do you think about those portions of the text which seem to
unite
Kinbote and Shade's narratives? Four examples: Shade's "not text, but
texture" epiphany, which seems a better description of VN's PF than
Shade's
poem alone; the coincidence of the black boy pushing the clockwork
wheelbarrow and the black gardener (we learn from Kinbote) pushing the
wheelbarrow just before Shade's death; "Man's life as commentary to
abstruse / Unfinished poem"; Zembla's appearance (via Pope, we assume)
in
Shade's poem and Kinbote's Zembla fantasy. Are these all just
incredible
coincidences? Dramatic irony? VN, outside the real world of the novel,
dropping meta clues?
2. One compelling argument by nonintegrationists is that when we
collapse
Kinbote and Shade's characters into one, we lose our enjoyment of the
interplay b/w Kinbote and Shade. That being so, do nonintegrationists
also
find all the scenes with (imaginary)Gradus--many of which are very
detailed
and action-oriented--unsatisfying? Less satisfying?
Matthew Roth
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