Mike M writes (excerpts): "Does anyone know who Paul H. Jr might be? Is there any connection between him and Paul Hentzner? [  ]Although it may be taken to refer to the man (whoever he was) who occupied this post at the time Hazel Shade was a student, the reader cannot be blamed for applying it to Paul H., Jr., the fine administrator and inept scholar who since 1957 headed the English Department of Wordsmith College. We met now and then (see Foreword and note to line 894) but not often. The Head of the Department to which I belonged was Prof. Nattochdag - "Netochka" as we called the dear man. Certainly the migraines that have lately tormented me to such a degree that I once had to leave in the midst of a concert at which I happened to be sitting beside Paul H., Jr., should not have been a stranger's business."[   ] Now to the Foreword, the second alleged reference to Paul H. Jr. Given that Paul H. Jr is an inept scholar, by a process of elimination he appears to be the the "Prof. H", whose potential collaboration with "Prof. C." Charles views with skepticism as co-editors of Shade's manuscript. I pointed out in an earlier post that these "professors" allude to Heminges & Condell, the alleged 'editors' of Shakespeare's First Folio, who as minimally educated actors would have been unqualified for that task. [   ]What about Paul Hentzner, who knew "the names of things"? There was a real Paul Hentzner, tutor to a German nobleman, who visited England in 1598, right in the middle of the Shakespeare period [   ] In the long note to line 894, CK mentions a "visiting German lecturer from Oxford", so that could relate, tangentially, to Hentzner. Later in the note the German drifts back in: ""Strange, strange," said the German visitor, who by some quirk of alderwood ancestry had been alone to catch the eerie note that had throbbed by and was gone."[  ]. Returning to Paul Hentzner; could Paul H Jr be his son? Kinbote tells us that Paul (senior?) "pleased John Shade much better than the suburban refinements of the English Department." -- perhaps the kind of place where his son worked? The chronology is deficient given that Hentzner's wife left him in 1950 with his son, presumably a child. 1950 seems to be a significant date in Pale Fire."

JM: I always thought Paul H. was Prof. Hurley. The hypothesis about Paul Hentzer rattles my certainties, cultivated at first through some ancient postings from the Pynchon list, reproduced in the VN archives.

Carolyn Kunin has recently mentioned Eberthella (Hurley?) and, in this case, she may have some interesting ideas to add.  

There is the connection between Kinbote and one of the Hurley boys, a party and other items - which I couldn't find using the Archive Google Search (it's not working as well as it did in the past when I need specific items from the N-L Archives).

 

I'm bringing up a selection, although I cannot recollect the gist of the matters that were being discussed at that time.