R.S.Gwynn [ to
JM's ...the pun on "tub," following Alexander Pope's
observation and a reference to Swift's own position as a
clergyman."...] Shade alludes, not to Pope's "Zembla" (apparently a
reference to Nova Zembla as an ultima Thule in "An Essay on Man"), but to "old"
Zembla, meaning that he is referring to Kinbote's Zembla....a small (a
very small) nod to Kinbote ...It is hard for a poet to get some
persistent voices out of his mind when he is trying to concentrate on other
things...That said, Swift's "tub" may well be both a boat and a pulpit, but it
is assuredly not a bathtub! ...Shade ranging outward imaginatively
from "the country of my cheek" ... Maybe he...sometimes likes to stick his big
toe up the tap ("now a silent liner docks")..."
JM : I happened on Swift because I remembered the "Tale of a
Tub" and was checking on Pope's reference to Zembla: by chance
and the google. Brian Boyd mentions Swift's "Nova Zembla" in his book on
Pale Fire ( The Magic of Artistic Discovery) & it's probably worth
checking into!
For you "Old
Zembla," doesn't point to Swift's "New Zembla"
whereas Shade is referring to Kinbote's Zembla, because he couldn't
get rid of his neighbor's persistent stories. I'd never have imagined
this could happen to a poet while he is engaged in his creation,
a disturbing contagion that is somehow similar
to Kinbote's, when he complains against the noise and lights of a
neighboring "merry-go-round" - only to insert
it topsyturvily in his foreword.
Now it's another
possibility to consider, besides having the "silent liner"
as Shade's big toe reaching for the tap, should we feel the
need to explore Shade's images to be able to access his growing madness, as
you and Gary see it. taking places right under our
eyes.