Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0016225, Mon, 21 Apr 2008 12:17:23 -0300

Subject
Fw: [ NABOKOV] [query] Bret Harte's Starbottle; Van Veen's "style
plafond peint"
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Matt Roth: "I might also remind everyone of the reference to "Colonel Starbottle" (Starover Blue), which might lead us to Bret Harte's story "Colonel Starbottle's Client," also concerned with kinbote."
JM: Perhaps other participants are not as familiar with Bret Harte as you are. I only read "The Iliad of Sandy Bar" where we also find a Colonel Starbottle and two litigating parties reconciled in the end. Would VN have been familiar with this Colonel Starbottle, what could have inpired him to use this name in Pale Fire? Even with the link to "kinbote", I find it hard to puzzle out.

Btw by a very loose association to duellings and a truce, there is a question I now remember to bring up: In one of my last postings I included various quotes about "ceil" but didn't underline something that I think is an interesting revelation on the part of Van Veen ( and VN): et trêve de mon style plafond peint.
How has Van's description of his style as a "painted ceiling" been interpreted in relation to VN's own?

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