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MR on why hide?
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First, I want to thank all the doubters of the MPD theory
for their often incisive criticisms. You've presented some
very compelling arguments that need to be answered more fully
in order for MPD to be credible.
That said, I want to follow up on a couple of points.
1. Cerebral Sclerosis: I was initially more sanguine about this
possibility than I am now. It seems unlikely to me that CS would
go dormant for such a long time between fits. In saying this,
however, I AM endorsing the idea that Shade's "heart attack" was
really a recurrence of his childhood abnormality--an idea Shade
himself entertains in l.692. Side note: just before his passage
about the childhood fit, he mentions seeing a "lemniscate" on the
sand. It so happens that a lemniscus can mean either the infinity
sign or a fiber connecting the brain to the central nervous system.
Probably just a coincidence, but I thought I'd throw it out there.
2. "Just half a shade": I don't think this quote from Dr. A can be
so easily dismissed. I believe this is the moment where Shade's
identity splits. I also don't believe that the Dr. really said this,
as it doesn't really make much sense as a Dr's response to Shade.
I am not alone in either of these assertions. Kinbote himself, in
C.727-728, says "The doctor is made to suggest that not only did
Shade retain in his trance half of his identity but that he was
also half a ghost. Knowing the [doctor] I venture to add that he
is far too stodgy to have displayed any such wit."
3. Most of the correspondences between Shade's poem (and life)
and Kinbote's commentary have been laid out by Boyd in support
of his Hazel Shade ghost theory. I don't find Boyd very convincing
on the Hazel part of the theory, but the correspondences must be
accounted for somehow. The MPD theory, for me, is a much simpler
way of making those connections. (In a conversation with Tiffany,
she pointed out to me the odd symmetry between the clockwork
toy--a black boy pushing a wheelbarrow--that Shade was playing
with when he had his first attack and Kinbote's black gardener,
who was pushing a wheelbarrow when Shade met his end.)
Anyway, just a few more planks in the bridge.
Matthew Roth
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for their often incisive criticisms. You've presented some
very compelling arguments that need to be answered more fully
in order for MPD to be credible.
That said, I want to follow up on a couple of points.
1. Cerebral Sclerosis: I was initially more sanguine about this
possibility than I am now. It seems unlikely to me that CS would
go dormant for such a long time between fits. In saying this,
however, I AM endorsing the idea that Shade's "heart attack" was
really a recurrence of his childhood abnormality--an idea Shade
himself entertains in l.692. Side note: just before his passage
about the childhood fit, he mentions seeing a "lemniscate" on the
sand. It so happens that a lemniscus can mean either the infinity
sign or a fiber connecting the brain to the central nervous system.
Probably just a coincidence, but I thought I'd throw it out there.
2. "Just half a shade": I don't think this quote from Dr. A can be
so easily dismissed. I believe this is the moment where Shade's
identity splits. I also don't believe that the Dr. really said this,
as it doesn't really make much sense as a Dr's response to Shade.
I am not alone in either of these assertions. Kinbote himself, in
C.727-728, says "The doctor is made to suggest that not only did
Shade retain in his trance half of his identity but that he was
also half a ghost. Knowing the [doctor] I venture to add that he
is far too stodgy to have displayed any such wit."
3. Most of the correspondences between Shade's poem (and life)
and Kinbote's commentary have been laid out by Boyd in support
of his Hazel Shade ghost theory. I don't find Boyd very convincing
on the Hazel part of the theory, but the correspondences must be
accounted for somehow. The MPD theory, for me, is a much simpler
way of making those connections. (In a conversation with Tiffany,
she pointed out to me the odd symmetry between the clockwork
toy--a black boy pushing a wheelbarrow--that Shade was playing
with when he had his first attack and Kinbote's black gardener,
who was pushing a wheelbarrow when Shade met his end.)
Anyway, just a few more planks in the bridge.
Matthew Roth
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