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Versipel and piles
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1. Dear Carolyn and List ( on versipel and piles)
In a former posting ( 14 August 2006) I wrote that: 'When Kinbote
mentions Swift "in search of a fond name" (...)he seems to be
illustrating how certain words could be construed by omissions and
inversions.' before adding: "but then it is also true that Hazel Shade
resembled me in certain respects" ( note to lines 347-348).
Going back to the subject of "versipel", adding this swift reminder,
there are two opposite arguments concerning C.Kunin's hypothesis about
JS&CK as one individual:
(a) Shade, in contrast to Kinbote, has a "swiftian" turn of mind, if we
follow W.Miale 26 April 2006 posting on "Preparation H"and piles.
Kinbote, though, seems to speak a very innocent English ( perhaps
Hazel's inversions were innocent, too?) !
My apparently "escatological" idea of turning "versipel" into a pile of
verse arose from Kinbote's last commentary on line (1000), page 300,
referring to PF's manuscript: "...for several days wore it, as it were,
having distributed the nine-two index cards about my person (...) Thus
with cautious steps, among deceived enemies, I circulated, plated with
poetry, armored with rhymes, stout with another man's song, stiff with
card-board, bullet-proof at long last".
(b) Shade's use of "versipel"in his poem, if associated with "
rhyme-armored" Kinbote, would indicate their common nature. And, indeed,
a few paragraphs later, Kinbote ( the Protean author!) adds: "God will
help me, I trust, to rid myself of any desire to follow the example of
two other characters in this work. I shall continue to exist. I may
assume other guises, other forms, but I shall try to exist".
Jansy
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In a former posting ( 14 August 2006) I wrote that: 'When Kinbote
mentions Swift "in search of a fond name" (...)he seems to be
illustrating how certain words could be construed by omissions and
inversions.' before adding: "but then it is also true that Hazel Shade
resembled me in certain respects" ( note to lines 347-348).
Going back to the subject of "versipel", adding this swift reminder,
there are two opposite arguments concerning C.Kunin's hypothesis about
JS&CK as one individual:
(a) Shade, in contrast to Kinbote, has a "swiftian" turn of mind, if we
follow W.Miale 26 April 2006 posting on "Preparation H"and piles.
Kinbote, though, seems to speak a very innocent English ( perhaps
Hazel's inversions were innocent, too?) !
My apparently "escatological" idea of turning "versipel" into a pile of
verse arose from Kinbote's last commentary on line (1000), page 300,
referring to PF's manuscript: "...for several days wore it, as it were,
having distributed the nine-two index cards about my person (...) Thus
with cautious steps, among deceived enemies, I circulated, plated with
poetry, armored with rhymes, stout with another man's song, stiff with
card-board, bullet-proof at long last".
(b) Shade's use of "versipel"in his poem, if associated with "
rhyme-armored" Kinbote, would indicate their common nature. And, indeed,
a few paragraphs later, Kinbote ( the Protean author!) adds: "God will
help me, I trust, to rid myself of any desire to follow the example of
two other characters in this work. I shall continue to exist. I may
assume other guises, other forms, but I shall try to exist".
Jansy
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
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