On Fri, Aug 14, 2009 at 2:33 PM, joseph Aisenberg <vanveen13@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
...
I never noticed that quote before.
It's interesting, because later Shade waits to be picked up from the
school by his wife who, late one day, prompts a restless Shade to
accept a ride with Kinbote, as if he were usually chauffeured by Sybil,
as Nabokov was in real life driven by his wife. But then John Shade
seems meant to be very American, and having him completely attended by
his wife as the blogger's grandfather recalled Nabokov's being attended
by his would really stand out.
When Kinbote falls on the ice, Shade is driving, so there's no reason to think Sybil always chauffeured him. It seems to make sense for Sybil to ride to the college with him so she can use the car while he's at work. Was this a normal arrangement at the time, when (I believe) few families had two cars and relatively few comfortably off families had two jobs? We don't know whether he always drove when they were together or she sometimes drove. My impression is that there was some weak social pressure for the man to drive.
On Fri, Aug 14, 2009 at 3:33 PM, jansymello
<jansy@aetern.us> wrote:
There is always a surprise when one stops to
examine VN's words. For example. Kinbote wrote: My fall
acted as a chemical reagent on the Shades’ sedan..." and I wonder why he said "chemical reagent,"
since a fall would only entail mechanical, not
chemical, consequences. Unless...?
Literally, Kinbote's fall couldn't mechanically release the Shades' car, so Kinbote is equally whimsical whether he says it happened mechanically or chemically. "Chemically" might be suggested by the apparent mysteriousness of the action, the way invisible events produce visible results in chemistry.
"Reagent" may be one of Kinbote's errors, since "catalyst" would be more precise; Kinbote says he makes the "reaction" happen, but he doesn't participate in it.
Jerry Friedman
All private editorial communications, without
exception, are
read by both co-editors.