Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0007148, Sat, 23 Nov 2002 19:35:47 -0800

Subject
Fw: reply to Mr Pultorak and a challenge PALE FIRE
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reply to Mr Pultorak and a challenge
----- Original Message -----
From: Andrew Brown
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum
Sent: Saturday, November 23, 2002 6:15 PM
Subject: Re: reply to Mr Pultorak and a challenge PALE FIRE


It was common, in woman's dormitories and in sorority houses, for gentlemen arriving to pick up there dates to stop at the reception area fro which a call would be placed to the woman's room. The woman would then come down to the reception area to greet her date. Guys did not go into living spaces or to women's rooms even in the late fifties. Of course the popular women's phones were ringing every two minutes on ball nights or other occasions.

This may indicate that the writer assumes we understand that Hazel was in a women's dormitory, at some point, even if her parents lived in that town. This, too, would not be unusual, even though the case has been made that it would be more economically convenient for Hazel to have lived at home. And it seems as if her arrival at home on the night of the Dean date was expected by her parents.

As for the nun disguise rumor mentioned in the commentary and the future nun in the poem, the time frame doesn't lend itself to their being the same person. If an actual King Charles had escaped from Zembla disguised as a nun, he could not have arrived at Wordsmith in the form of a "future nun" while Hazel attended school. He would have been a past faux nun, not a nun-to-be.
----- Original Message -----
From: D. Barton Johnson
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Sent: Saturday, November 23, 2002 12:09 PM
Subject: Fw: reply to Mr Pultorak and a challenge PALE FIRE



----- Original Message -----
From: Carolyn Kunin
To: Vladimir Nabokov Forum
Sent: Friday, November 22, 2002 7:21 PM
Subject: reply to Mr Pultorak and a challenge


Dear Mr Pultorak,

I think we are getting very close here to slaying a dead horse, but if Shade writes

The telephone that rang before a ball
Every two minutes in Sorosa Hall ....

it seems to me that he knows a bit too much of what goes on there.

Carolyn Kunin


p.s. A challenge to those who believe that the roommate is Hazel's:


Do you see any significance in the nun who turns up in Kinbote's commentary to line 894 ("the widely circulated stuff about the nun") or any relationship between this nun and the roommate who has become one?
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