Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0010807, Wed, 15 Dec 2004 19:47:48 -0800

Subject
Re: Fwd: Re: Nabokov and the X-Men
Date
Body
As a reader of the X-Men in my youth I've always chalked this up as coincedence.
There seems to be little resemblence between Kinbote and Professor X. I am
unaware of a possible common source but it wouldn't surprise me.
M. Mulhern

-----Original Message-----
From: Vladimir Nabokov Forum [mailto:NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU]On
Behalf Of Donald B. Johnson
Sent: Wednesday, December 15, 2004 1:13 PM
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Subject: Fwd: Re: Nabokov and the X-Men



My brother John Nicol has quoted to me part of an entry from a Wikipedia
(an "open-source" encyclopedia) on PALE FIRE:

...the story of Charles Xavier, the deposed king of the "distant
northern land" of Zembla. The reader soon realizes that Kinbot is
Charles Xavier, living incognito--or that he is insane and his
identification with Charles and perhaps all of Zembla are his delusions.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pale_Fire)

He has gone on to point out that Charles Xavier is the name of
Professor X of the X-Men, and that X-Men #1 came out in 1963, the year
after the publication of Pale Fire.

As far as I can tell, Stan Lee is not an anagram of Vladimir Nabokov,
but is this merely coincidence, indication of a common source, or a
hidden fan letter?

Anyhow, Happy Holidays to all.

Charles X. Nicol

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