Dear Jansy,

You wrote:  Why do you suppose that "the little parricide" was John Shade? All I got was: "I wish to convey, in making this reference to Wordsmith briefer than the notes on the Goldsworth and Shade houses, the fact that the college was considerably farther from them than they were from one another. It is probably the first time that the dull pain of distance is rendered through an effect of style and that a topographical idea finds its verbal expression in a series of foreshortened sentences."  There are other clues, right? What are they?

The other clues are in Jekyll and Hyde. I just realized that this part of your note was not addressed to me. Nevertheless ... if you accept my hypothesis that there is a relationship between Pale Fire and Jekyll and Hyde, then you will find it interesting to note that Shade doesn't know what his parents look like. I found it odd -- apparently no one else does.*  What is then interesting is to note that Dr Jekyll's younger brother (so to speak), Mr Hyde, destroys all evidence of Jekyll's parents. In a fit of pique, he destroys all letters written from J to his parents, and his (or their, I guess) father's portrait.

I took this and ran with it to the bank. Do you see? the implication, I mean. What I mean is that like Hyde, Shade destroyed -- must have destroyed -- his parents portraits. Why would he do such a thing? Do you see now? I thought it likely that Shade, having killed his mother (his 'younger brother, Kinbote**) couldn't bear to have any reminders - or perhaps, good old Doctor Colt told Aunt Maude to hyde them (pun intended).

Carolyn
*as I noted when I initially reported this trouvaille, we live in the age of photographs. How is it possible that Shade doesn't know what his parents looked like?
**Kinbote, as I noted many moons ago, refers to Hyde's first crime in J & H. And as someone else noticed, perhaps Jerry F?, or possibly Charles from Scandanavia?, that the name Charles (masc. form of Caroline) might have been derived from his mother's. I can't recall now, but I also figured out that she, his mother, was possibly of Russian descent, making Shade the "scholar of Russian descent" at Waindell, commonly supposed to refer to Kinbote. Charles is hardly a Slavic or Scandanavian name - nor is Kinbote either, for that matter. Well, all of this is to be found in the archives, for any who wish to pursue it further.

From: Jansy <jansy@AETERN.US>
To: NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU
Sent: Mon, April 29, 2013 10:56:15 AM
Subject: Re: [NABOKV-L] Minor points: Surnames and name days

Jansy Mello: inspite of innumerous inspired angles and photography, or the play inside the play blending fictional reality and its representation, I disliked enormously the recent production of Anna Karenina, directed by Joe Wright. The real world of a novelist, at least its intelligibility, gains consistency by details (caress them) and I missed them all, inspite of all the luxurious lamps and trinkets.
Jerry Katsell
: Perhaps Nabokov, who was capable of uninhibited, uproarious laughter, would have enjoyed some original details in the Joe Wright directed Anna Karenina. My favorite moment was during the race scene when Frou Frou, Vronsky holding on for dear life, crashes into the orchestra pit. J

Jansy Mello: During this episode I kept expecting the farcical race horse scene from "My Fair Lady."  The meaty stumbling Frou Frou filled me with pity.

     
Abdel Bouazza: The recollection of children playing among other games hide and seek on Vladimir’s name-day and forgetting about Peter who was still hiding and therefore missed the picnic he was looking forward to is from VN’s short story “A Bad Day” (Obida, 1931) included in Details of a Sunset & Other Stories.
 
Jansy Mello: One added information: a celebration on Vladimir's name-day was described in his short story "A Bad Day."  And, of course, a precise correction by AB: the scene I had in mind was not included in "Speak,Memory."  
Jerry Friedman: I didn't remember Carolyn Kunin's suggestion "that John Shade is the young miscreant that was judged by Judge whatsisname (next-door neighbor) with the alphabetic daughters, for having offed his parents when he was but a wee bairn."  This runs into problems with the timing.  The more important one, probably, is that Kinbote's statement that the little parricide was seven (n. 47-48) would contradict his statement that Samuel Shade died in 1902 (n. 71), which is when John was three or four.
Jansy Mello: Why do you suppose that "the little parricide" was John Shade? All I got was: "I wish to convey, in making this reference to Wordsmith briefer than the notes on the Goldsworth and Shade houses, the fact that the college was considerably farther from them than they were from one another. It is probably the first time that the dull pain of distance is rendered through an effect of style and that a topographical idea finds its verbal expression in a series of foreshortened sentences."  There are other clues, right? What are they?
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Google Search the archive Contact the Editors Visit "Nabokov Online Journal" Visit Zembla View Nabokv-L Policies Manage subscription options Visit AdaOnline View NSJ Ada Annotations Temporary L-Soft Search the archive

All private editorial communications are read by both co-editors.