Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0024430, Tue, 23 Jul 2013 21:52:57 -0600

Subject
Re: Greenacre clarification and a QUERY
Date
Body
Does the exclamation point on "even a 'pale' one!" suggest that it's
Kinbote's amusingly clumsy attempt at humor?

Jerry Friedman

On Tue, Jul 23, 2013 at 9:53 AM, Roth, Matthew <mroth@messiah.edu> wrote:
...

> ** **
>
> But since we’re on the topic of *PF*, I have a query concerning Kinbote’s
> note to line 680 and his related Index entry. Here is the note, in its
> entirety:****
>
> ** **
>
> *Line 680: *Lolita****
>
> ** **
>
> Major hurricanes are given feminine names in America. The feminine gender
> is suggested not so much by the sex of furies and harridans as by a general
> professional application. Thus any machine is a she to its fond user, and
> any fire (even a "pale" one!) is she to the fireman, as water is she to the
> passionate plumber. Why our poet chose to give this 1958 hurricane a
> little-used Spanish name (sometimes given to parrots) instead of Linda or
> Lois, is not clear.****
>
> ** **
>
> In the Index, under the “Kinbote” entry, Kinbote gives us the following:
> “his sense of humor, *680*;” While there may be a touch of wit in
> Kinbote’s entry, it doesn’t seem to merit special mention. Am I missing
> something?****
>
> ** **
>
> ** **
>
> Matt Roth****
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