GSL: "The other point though is that Kinbote's Notes, or Botkin's Tale, can still have meaning and purpose along the same lines that existed before Botkin was revealed. Seen as false in the outer frame, they still have the force of illusion in the inner one."
Yes, I agree. It doesn't bother me that the New Wye narrative is so unstable anymore than it bothers me that, for instance, the battle of (dim)wits between Gradus and Bretwit is all in Kinbote's mind. We still enjoy the imagined scenes and experience them as real, though we may ultimately regard them as fabrications. A version of this question has come up recently with regard to Casey Affleck's faux-documentary about Joaquin Phoenix ("I'm Still Here"). When it was revealed that the documentary was a fiction, some argued that this drained all the power from the film, while others have argued that the change of frame adds a complex and generative aspect to the film.
Matt Roth