-------- Original Message --------
Thanks again to SB. I had completely forgotten about Miss Beauchamp,
and
had overlooked Monsieur Beauchamp (Oleg's tutor?). I'm intrigued,
obviously. Could it be significant that the names Beauchamp and
Campbell
are (funhouse) mirror images of each each other? (beau:bell &
champ:camp)
Similar in some way to Botkin-Kinbote? Beauchamp and Campbell are
playing
chess, another mirror image game, and if I'm interpreting the gesture
("offered his raised fists to choose from") correctly, they are
choosing
sides/colors through a kind of random selection. One could as easily be
on
one side (of the mirror/chessboard) as the other.
Other notes of interest: Campbell ends up in Iran. We see Kinbote
playing
chess with a "young Iranian" and dining with the "son of a padishah,"
perhaps the same boy, perhaps not. JF has also pointed out a seeming
problem with dates.
JF, by the way, pointed out to me off-list that I have been misusing
the
phrase "begs the question." My apologies to all whom I confused with
this
blunder!
Matt Roth