----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, January 26, 2003 10:54
AM
Subject: Re: Pnin in Pale Fire
Phil,
I think it would be a great error to believe that
Nabokov ever saw himself as a "sympathetic" Pnin in any case, or that there is
anything at all of Nabokov in either Kinbote or Shade, or that Nabokov's
novels were ever at all about himself.
Nabokov knew his own abilities too well, and was
not a self-effacing man, to ever portray himself as Pnin, who, for all his
beauty, is distinguished primarily by an inability -- maybe a noble inability,
but still an inability -- to get along in the physical world. The athletic,
multilingual, handsome Nabokov was no Pnin. All Nabokov had in common with
Pnin was his teeth. The narrator of Pnin is a crueler persona for which
Nabokov IMO may have slightly leveraged the perceived (by his readers),
purported character of "Sirin," a name known to Russian
emigres as the nom de plume of someone they really did not know ---
Nabokov.
I can't see anything at all, even slightly, of
Nabokov in Kinbote or Shade. When Nabokov wanted to write about Nabokov, he
did so without mystification in Speak Memory.
To say that there is anything of Nabokov in
Humbert Humbert would be, as I think N. himself notes, a serious
libel.
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Sunday, January 26, 2003 1:01
AM
Subject: Fw: Pnin in Pale Fire
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Phillip Iannarelli"
<iann88us@yahoo.com>
> To:
"Vladimir Nabokov Forum" <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
> > ----------------- Message requiring your approval
(66
> lines) ------------------
> >
> >
> > I
think you touched on something important. I always
> > believed that
in "Pnin" Pnin and the Narrator are two
> > different personalities
of Nabokov: Pnin the
> > sympathetic Nabokov and the Narrator the
more worldly,
> > superior, and arrogant Nabokov--of course the
more
> > superior the Narrator is, the more sympathetic Pnin
>
> becomes. In Pale Fire it's the same thing but in a
> > more
advanced complex way. Shade and Kinbote are two
> > aspects of VN's
own self struggling with each other.
> > Most of VN's books are one
character novels: himself,
> > which becomes tedious at
times.
> > --- "D. Barton Johnson" <chtodel@cox.net> wrote:
>
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > > From: "Robert Rabiee"
<costanza2000@yahoo.com>
>
> > >
> > > > ----------------- Message requiring your
approval
> > > (28
> > > lines)
------------------
> > > > Dear list,
> > >
>
> > > > Perhaps one answer can come from our
understanding
> > > of
> > > > Pnin's "Vladimir
Nabokov" -- the most seemingly
> > > > reliable of our various
unreliably Nabakovian
> > > > narrators. Perhaps VN/VNt (t for
text) are
> > > > intentionally attempting to paint a
more
> > > compassionate
> > > > picture of poor
Timofey; remember that VNt takes
> > > many
> > > >
liberties in his filling in of Pnin's personal
> > > > history,
and even Pnin denies a tangible
> > > connection
> > >
> between the two. Of course, I don't necessarily
> > > >
believe this -- I should like to think that Pnin
> > > is
>
> > > every bit as sweet as we are led to believe -- but
> >
> it
> > > > is a possible explanation. Our understanding
of
> > > > Kinbote, however, leads us to lean towards
his
> > > being
> > > > wholly unreliable. This, as
many have said, seems
> > > to
> > > > be the most
obvious (and correct) interpretation.
> > > But
> > >
> remember, also, that Kinbote may indeed be Shade
> > > >
himself...so what does this say about Shade? Is
> > >
Shade
> > > > another VNt, working against Pnin instead of
for
> > > him?
> > > >
> > > > Oi.
Alright, just a few (fairly obvious) ideas.
> > > That's
>
> > > about as much I can decipher.
> > > >
>
> > > Best regards,
> > > >
> > >
>
> > > > Robert Y. Rabiee
> >
> >
>
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