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Re: VN's poetic genius and PF poem
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Re: [NABOKV-L] VN's poetic genius and PF poemCarolyn Kunin [to JM's query to CKunin: Do you think that all the fuss around John Shade's poem "Pale Fire" did Nabokov a disservice in connection to VN's poetic genius? ]:
"I felt the controversy was the result of mis-reading the novel. Personally? I adored the Shade poem, therefore I adored Shade. But when I came to suspect Shade of deception, my understanding of the poem had to expand to include all the truths about himself that I felt Shade was hiding in it ...[A]t the point that Shade suffers a cerebral stroke/psychotic break, that the poem breaks down as well and ceases at that point to be even a fictional work of art. The way I see it, the poem's integrity depends on its function within the novel. I continue to feel that Pale Fire is an unsurpassed and probably unsurpassable work of art..."
Vladimir Mylnikov: "i think 'the fuss' mainly deals with the reader's approach to the book and its quite logical vivisection - separate prose and verse (including their functions) - but the fun part of the book is that the poem, the commentary, and the index are inseparable - it is a linguistic salad and one ingredient pulled out doesn't taste as good as when it stays in the dish."
Stan Kelly-Bootle: "I would have thought that a poem must be judged as-is, not by opinions about the author's motivations, or...by any planted messages. PF's Cantos, 'tis true, offer a rare special tease, where the pseudonymous Shade is not a real person whose verse is subject to the interpretative methods, love, hate or indifference, we devote to real poets.I still think VN ranks supreme (Nil Plus Ultra) in narrative prose, but a few notches lower in the grand glory of global poetry (Shakespeare, Keats, Pushkin, Shelley, Chaucer, ...) Overawed by VN's parodic genius ... Matching that shown in Shade's deliberate doggerel, honed to perfection as the meat in Kinbote's sandwich?
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Jansy Mello: According to Carolyn, Shade's poem breaks down after the poet suffers a psychotic break. In this sense both she and Vladimir Mylnikov are in agreement when they consider that Pale Fire, the novel, is mis-read if the readers separate prose and verse. That was my point exactly when I asked about "the fuss around Shade's poem" (indicating its recent printing in which there's no foreword, commentaries and index by Charles Kinbote).
Stan notes that a poem must be judged "as-is" and, although this assertion sounds simple, it bears testimony to centuries of combined wisdom in relation to poetry. This is also a position that Vladimir Nabokov would have embraced and this is why it's so puzzling to me when, in VN's "Selected Letters 1940-1977", I remember having read V.N trying to get the poem published separately from his "mad King's" addenda.
I tried to locate the letter using the Harvest/HBJ Book's Index but. under "Pale Fire."I reached only the most surprising statements [ "I have decided to postpone indefinitely the writing of PALE FIRE. The work has not been advancing and I have come to the conclusion that the very existence of the contractual obligation has been interfering...I would like to be released..."], but no letter to the Editor of a magazine that, as a rule, publishes no poetry (that's all I can remember!).
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"I felt the controversy was the result of mis-reading the novel. Personally? I adored the Shade poem, therefore I adored Shade. But when I came to suspect Shade of deception, my understanding of the poem had to expand to include all the truths about himself that I felt Shade was hiding in it ...[A]t the point that Shade suffers a cerebral stroke/psychotic break, that the poem breaks down as well and ceases at that point to be even a fictional work of art. The way I see it, the poem's integrity depends on its function within the novel. I continue to feel that Pale Fire is an unsurpassed and probably unsurpassable work of art..."
Vladimir Mylnikov: "i think 'the fuss' mainly deals with the reader's approach to the book and its quite logical vivisection - separate prose and verse (including their functions) - but the fun part of the book is that the poem, the commentary, and the index are inseparable - it is a linguistic salad and one ingredient pulled out doesn't taste as good as when it stays in the dish."
Stan Kelly-Bootle: "I would have thought that a poem must be judged as-is, not by opinions about the author's motivations, or...by any planted messages. PF's Cantos, 'tis true, offer a rare special tease, where the pseudonymous Shade is not a real person whose verse is subject to the interpretative methods, love, hate or indifference, we devote to real poets.I still think VN ranks supreme (Nil Plus Ultra) in narrative prose, but a few notches lower in the grand glory of global poetry (Shakespeare, Keats, Pushkin, Shelley, Chaucer, ...) Overawed by VN's parodic genius ... Matching that shown in Shade's deliberate doggerel, honed to perfection as the meat in Kinbote's sandwich?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~/// ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jansy Mello: According to Carolyn, Shade's poem breaks down after the poet suffers a psychotic break. In this sense both she and Vladimir Mylnikov are in agreement when they consider that Pale Fire, the novel, is mis-read if the readers separate prose and verse. That was my point exactly when I asked about "the fuss around Shade's poem" (indicating its recent printing in which there's no foreword, commentaries and index by Charles Kinbote).
Stan notes that a poem must be judged "as-is" and, although this assertion sounds simple, it bears testimony to centuries of combined wisdom in relation to poetry. This is also a position that Vladimir Nabokov would have embraced and this is why it's so puzzling to me when, in VN's "Selected Letters 1940-1977", I remember having read V.N trying to get the poem published separately from his "mad King's" addenda.
I tried to locate the letter using the Harvest/HBJ Book's Index but. under "Pale Fire."I reached only the most surprising statements [ "I have decided to postpone indefinitely the writing of PALE FIRE. The work has not been advancing and I have come to the conclusion that the very existence of the contractual obligation has been interfering...I would like to be released..."], but no letter to the Editor of a magazine that, as a rule, publishes no poetry (that's all I can remember!).
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
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
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/