Subject
The Pale Fire of Boswell? (fwd)
Date
Body
From: Icrywolf (Chris Magyar) <Icrywolf@aol.com>
At the risk of digging up another debate on narration, I want to pose a
question on _Pale Fire_. I noticed, when reading Boswell's infamous _Life of
Johnson_ for a dreary class on 18th century England, that Lord Kinbote
resonates strongly throughout Boswell's posturings and justifications.
Although the bodies of work themselves are quite different -- biography vs.
scholarly analysis, real life vs. fiction -- the intents and actions of the
"authors" (I'm hesitatingly assuming Kinbote as author of the introduction and
commentary for the sake of argument) are very similar and indeed
complimentary. Since Nabokov was schooled in Britain, I don't doubt that he
was exposed to Boswell. My question becomes (in case anyone has an article or
posting to answer it) to what extent could Boswell, and biographers of that
style, have influenced the creation of _Pale Fire_, and, more intriguingly, to
what extent does _Pale Fire_ influence the modern reader's reception of
Boswell? I, personally, cannot help but take everything Boswell writes
cynically, finding subtextual hints that Boswell was not writing about Johnson
but about himself, and laughing at Boswell's unique form of pride that at
times seems to mimic Kinbote. But then again, I've been reading periodic
sentences for a while now, and perhaps my mind has slipped from the rational
track.
Icrywolf
The Colorado College
At the risk of digging up another debate on narration, I want to pose a
question on _Pale Fire_. I noticed, when reading Boswell's infamous _Life of
Johnson_ for a dreary class on 18th century England, that Lord Kinbote
resonates strongly throughout Boswell's posturings and justifications.
Although the bodies of work themselves are quite different -- biography vs.
scholarly analysis, real life vs. fiction -- the intents and actions of the
"authors" (I'm hesitatingly assuming Kinbote as author of the introduction and
commentary for the sake of argument) are very similar and indeed
complimentary. Since Nabokov was schooled in Britain, I don't doubt that he
was exposed to Boswell. My question becomes (in case anyone has an article or
posting to answer it) to what extent could Boswell, and biographers of that
style, have influenced the creation of _Pale Fire_, and, more intriguingly, to
what extent does _Pale Fire_ influence the modern reader's reception of
Boswell? I, personally, cannot help but take everything Boswell writes
cynically, finding subtextual hints that Boswell was not writing about Johnson
but about himself, and laughing at Boswell's unique form of pride that at
times seems to mimic Kinbote. But then again, I've been reading periodic
sentences for a while now, and perhaps my mind has slipped from the rational
track.
Icrywolf
The Colorado College