Carolyn Kunin answered a question telling us that it "brings up
the rather surprising fact that the plot of Pale Fire is not at all unrealistic.
It is certainly more believable than J&H in that the transformation from one
personality to the other(s) doesn't depend on magical chemicals - - simply on
not terribly unlikely psycho-sexual problems and cerebral
hemorrhage."
For months I'd been entertaining her hypothesis concerning John Shade&
Kinbote&Gradus taken as one individual but questioning her like some kind of
"devil's advocate".
Suddenly it dawned on me that it is impossible that Shade could also be
Kinbote/Gradus.
While I was navigating on the internet from Artic to
Antartic, thinking about muscovite snooty-green glass and Kinbote's
annoyance with school-boys in rowanspool pullovers I realized
that there was no internet at the time "Pale Fire" was written in America.
John Shade is a rather provincial American poet. So ... how could
he impersonate Kinbote? Psychotic breakdowns never improve one's cultural
references and syntax.
Jansy