Subject
JF to CK again
From
Date
Body
Dear Carolyn,
> Dear Jerry,
>
> > Every invention feature of the solution that you impute to
> > Nabokov--do alter egos really say they are so different in age
> > and appearance from their real selves, by the way?--makes the
> > puzzle less fair.
>
> My interpretation of PF is based on my recognition that Nabokov is
both
> scientist and literary artist and that he takes from both science and
> literature in creating PF. Actually, yes, the appearance of alternate
> personalities can be quite strikingly different and the first French
> cases in the 19th century were documented with photographs (sorry I'd
> like to be able to give a reference, but I have seen them and will
> look).
No need on my account.
[snip Hyde's differences in appearance from Jekyll]
Okay, you and Charles Wallace Emerson have convinced me that that
one's okay. There are still all the other inventions that we've
discussed.
> In particular, I think it needs a fairly
> specific explanation of what is "really" going on in Kinbote's
> interactions with the Shades. Of course, you might differ.
>
> I do and I don't. In his lecture on J&H Nabokov discusses the
> difficulties RLS had in presenting this kind of a story, and I think
he
> had the same difficulties. In order to convince the reader that the
two
> characters are separate individuals, Nabokov did have to cheat a bit.
I don't agree with that. All he had to do was tell us so. I know
I never suspect two fictional characters are the same without
very strong reason.
> That's how I understand the discrepancies that bother you.
It's much like the joke Jansy quoted (which I'm very fond of,
in a slightly different version, and I'm always disappointed when
I use it to "explain to my students what physics is about" and
I have to tell them the straight lines to feed me).
Anyway, one difference between you and me is where you see
"cheating a bit", I see massive discrepancies. When I found
one little discrepancy in /Pale Fire/ (the date palm), I decided
Nabokov meant there to be no real story.
> CK (who the devil is CF? your mother?)
...
I believe I have a first cousin once removed with those initials.
But in gratitude to a very hard-working person coping with what
is undoubtedly much more than she bargained for, I prefer not to
say how that typo happened.
Jerry Friedman
Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
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> Dear Jerry,
>
> > Every invention feature of the solution that you impute to
> > Nabokov--do alter egos really say they are so different in age
> > and appearance from their real selves, by the way?--makes the
> > puzzle less fair.
>
> My interpretation of PF is based on my recognition that Nabokov is
both
> scientist and literary artist and that he takes from both science and
> literature in creating PF. Actually, yes, the appearance of alternate
> personalities can be quite strikingly different and the first French
> cases in the 19th century were documented with photographs (sorry I'd
> like to be able to give a reference, but I have seen them and will
> look).
No need on my account.
[snip Hyde's differences in appearance from Jekyll]
Okay, you and Charles Wallace Emerson have convinced me that that
one's okay. There are still all the other inventions that we've
discussed.
> In particular, I think it needs a fairly
> specific explanation of what is "really" going on in Kinbote's
> interactions with the Shades. Of course, you might differ.
>
> I do and I don't. In his lecture on J&H Nabokov discusses the
> difficulties RLS had in presenting this kind of a story, and I think
he
> had the same difficulties. In order to convince the reader that the
two
> characters are separate individuals, Nabokov did have to cheat a bit.
I don't agree with that. All he had to do was tell us so. I know
I never suspect two fictional characters are the same without
very strong reason.
> That's how I understand the discrepancies that bother you.
It's much like the joke Jansy quoted (which I'm very fond of,
in a slightly different version, and I'm always disappointed when
I use it to "explain to my students what physics is about" and
I have to tell them the straight lines to feed me).
Anyway, one difference between you and me is where you see
"cheating a bit", I see massive discrepancies. When I found
one little discrepancy in /Pale Fire/ (the date palm), I decided
Nabokov meant there to be no real story.
> CK (who the devil is CF? your mother?)
...
I believe I have a first cousin once removed with those initials.
But in gratitude to a very hard-working person coping with what
is undoubtedly much more than she bargained for, I prefer not to
say how that typo happened.
Jerry Friedman
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