Thanks to Andrea Pitzer for the quotation about Shade's inner life.

Thanks also to Gary Lipon for supplying the quotation from the Herald Tribune. I remember seeing this somewhere before, but I can't now remember where. It is, I think, a key text, on the same level, perhaps, as Dmitri Nabokov's letter to the List dated January 8, 1998 (available in the Archives) with the subject line

Dmitri Nabokov on the PF Narrator issue.

This letter was the culmination of some intense discussion of the narrator question. Boyd's Shadean view was ably countered by letters from Charles Nicol (December 23, 1997) and Mary Bellino (December 24, 1997). And of course Boyd himself later abandoned the Shadean interpretation in his indispensable book on Pale Fire.

All of these valuable sources are, it seems to me, relevant to some of the views Gary has been expressing and to some of the questions he has been asking.

Dmitri's letter resurfaced on the List in August 2006. On August 28, 2006, Jerry Friedman responded to Dmitri in his characteristically thoughtful fashion (Subject line: DN on PF in 1998).

At this point I would like to ask for some help. Stephen Blackwell appended this note to Jerry's letter:

EDNote: There is an interview, in Strong Opinions and not at my fingertips, in which VN tells an interviewer (a scholar, I believe) that the suggestion he makes about a certain pattern was not in his plan for the given work, and that it was either a chance event or a product of unconscious inspiration, whithout which, he says, art and its appreciation would not be worthwhile. Perhaps that resolves the question somewhat? ~SB

If someone can provide the details of this interview--i.e., where it can be found in SO--I would be grateful.

Finally, to Jerry Friedman, I want to take you up on your offer to provide "A phrase about ghost stories, either due to or about Henry James." If it's not too much bother at this late date, could you find this quote and send it to me? Thank you.

Jim Twiggs

From: Andrea Pitzer <andrea.pitzer@GMAIL.COM>
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Sent: Fri, August 13, 2010 1:15:45 PM
Subject: Re: [NABOKV-L] Nabokov on Botkin,

In reference to GSL's request about the inner life of John Shade:

As to the lives of my characters, not all are grotesque and not all are tragic: Fyodor in The Gift is blessed with a faithful love and an early recognition of his genius; John Shade in Pale Fire leads an intense inner existence, far removed from what you call a joke. You must be confusing me with Dostoevski.

(p. 119, at the end of a BBC-2 interview with Nicholas Graham, Strong Opinions)

Hope that helps.

Andrea

On Fri, Aug 13, 2010 at 1:29 PM, G S Lipon <glipon@innerlea.com> wrote:

On Aug 10, 2010, at 5:08 PM, R. Rosenbaum wrote:

And so I'd repeat VN's fairly non-ambiguous words...:

"At the end of his 1962 diary, Nabokov drafted some phrases for possible interviews:

'I wonder if any reader will notice the following details: 1) that the nasty commentator is not an ex-King and not even Dr. Kinbote but Prof. Vseslav Botkin, a Russian and a madman …'"

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Just for the record,

apparently Nabokov actually spoke these words, verbatum in fact;

or handed as an index card with the words written out on it to an interviewer.

I have a reference to an interview in the New York Herald Tribune Books section, June 17, 1962
BOOKS AND AUTHORS By Maurice Dolbier. McCarthy's review, btw, ran in The New Republic, June 4, 1962.

"It is jollier than the others," he said, "and it is full of plums that I
keep hoping somebody will find. For instance, the nasty commentator is not

an ex-King of Zembla nor is he Professor Kinbote. He is Professor Botkin, or
Botkine, a Russian and a madman. His commentary has a number of notes
dealing with entomology, ornithology, and botany. The reviewers have said

that I worked my favorite subjects into this novel. What they have not
discovered is that Botkin knows nothing about them, and all his notes are
frightfully erroneous. . . . No one has noted that my commentator committed

suicide before completing the index to the book. The last entry has no
numbered reference. . . . And even Mary McCarthy, who has discovered more in
the book than most of its critics, had some difficulty in locating the

source of its title, and made the mistake of searching for it in 'The
Tempest.' It is from 'Timon of Athens.' The moon's an arrant thief she
snatches her pale fire from the sun.' I hope that pointing out these things

will perhaps help the reader to enjoy my novel better."

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What I'm currently searching about for though is where VN describes Shade as a "complex character", or of possessing a "rich inner life", or something of that ilk. Any help would be appreciated.

–GSL

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Search the archive	Contact the Editors	Visit "Nabokov Online Journal"
Visit Zembla	View Nabokv-L Policies	Manage subscription options

All private editorial communications, without exception, are read by both co-editors.