I forgot to add one more important connection between Shade and Kinbote/Botkin. While Kinbote imagines himself to be King Charles on the lam, Shade twice imagines himself as royalty in "Pale Fire" (l. 605 & l.894). In the second of these (Sit like a king there, and like Marat bleed) he uses a dissociated perspective to imagine himself both as a king and as the victim of an assassin--the exact scenario envisioned by Kinbote. Surely VN wanted us to notice the coincidence. We then must ask why, and to what end.
 
Matt
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.