Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0006836, Mon, 23 Sep 2002 09:43:36 -0700

Subject
Malign D REPLIES TO kUNIN RE pALE fIRE
Date
Body
----- Original Message -----
From: <MalignD@aol.com>
To: <NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU>
Sent: Monday, September 23, 2002 7:45 AM
Subject: Re: Fw: reply to Malign D


>
> ----------------- Message requiring your approval (27
lines) ------------------
> Carolyn Kunin:
>
> <<I think I understand your question (but not completely). One of the
>
> problems with Kinbote/Botkin is that neither would be hired to teach (even
>
> at Waindell College).>>
>
> In Pnin, "Nabokov" says "[w]hen I decided to accept a Professorship at
> Waindell, I stipulated that I could invite whomever I wanted for teaching
in
> the special Russian Division I planned to inaugurate." Unless one places
out
> of bounds similar hiring practices at New Wye, a like situation could
explain
> how Kinbote managed to get through the job interviews necessary for
> employment, no?
>
> <<Botkin adds nothing, leads nowhere & is therefore probably a false clue.
> The other russian professor is Professor Pnin, a wonderful character from
a
> wonderful earlier novel by Nabokov, which I think you will enjoy
reading.>>
>
> This, it seems to me, is an overly--and unjustifiably--confident
assertion.
> I wonder how you arrived at it. Pnin, if I am not mistaken, taught at
> Waindell, not New Wye and, though it is true that he left Waindell and
> certainly could have ended up at New Wye, so could have "Nabokov," who was
> also at Waindell and tried to hire Pnin. So could have anyone other
Russian
> scholar, with (or without) a difficult name.
>
>
>