Subject
Re: syllogism in Pale Fire
From
Date
Body
Alexey Sklyarenko: "The very subject matter of syllogisms seems to amuse them, as for example: "All men are mortal, Mr. N is a man, ergo Mr. N is mortal." The too simple fact ["truth"] that Mr. N is a man made Pushkin smile." + "I like my name: Shade, Ombre, almost 'man' / In Spanish..." ...Shade is almost man (as his name suggests). Similarly, young Pushkin questions the too simple fact that Mr. N is a man...
JM: Pushkin's smile conveys, completely, what his opinion about "N" was. Nevertheless, we don't get a similar definition in "Pale Fire": a dead Shade is no longer a man and a half-dead Shade is merely "half a shade" dead.*
However, in both cases, what we reach is a suggestion of "incompleteness." ** The same reasoning applies to "almost man, in Spanish" (the word in full is "hombre," with a mute "h"). Perhaps linguistic immortality is not enough to bring peace to someone who fears death and madness?
.............................................................................................................................
* But, Doctor, I was dead!/ He smiled. "Not quite: just half a shade," he said.
**- CK line 949 and another series of strange "halves" and the "status of man": "how and why anybody is capable of destroying a fellow creature (this argument necessitates, I know, a temporary granting to Gradus of the status of man), unless he is defending the life of...so that in final judgment of the Gradus versus the Crown case I would submit that if his human incompleteness be deemed insufficient to explain his idiotic journey across the Atlantic...we may concede, doctor, that our half-man was also half mad."
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/
JM: Pushkin's smile conveys, completely, what his opinion about "N" was. Nevertheless, we don't get a similar definition in "Pale Fire": a dead Shade is no longer a man and a half-dead Shade is merely "half a shade" dead.*
However, in both cases, what we reach is a suggestion of "incompleteness." ** The same reasoning applies to "almost man, in Spanish" (the word in full is "hombre," with a mute "h"). Perhaps linguistic immortality is not enough to bring peace to someone who fears death and madness?
.............................................................................................................................
* But, Doctor, I was dead!/ He smiled. "Not quite: just half a shade," he said.
**- CK line 949 and another series of strange "halves" and the "status of man": "how and why anybody is capable of destroying a fellow creature (this argument necessitates, I know, a temporary granting to Gradus of the status of man), unless he is defending the life of...so that in final judgment of the Gradus versus the Crown case I would submit that if his human incompleteness be deemed insufficient to explain his idiotic journey across the Atlantic...we may concede, doctor, that our half-man was also half mad."
Search archive with Google:
http://www.google.com/advanced_search?q=site:listserv.ucsb.edu&HL=en
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm
Visit "Nabokov Online Journal:" http://www.nabokovonline.com
Manage subscription options: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/