True, I have been playing with it a bit. I can't make the claim that this is exactly what Nabokov had in mind. I don't think I've really been in the rough, though. He invites us, the readers, to play the game - obliquely in the text, but through a number of comments he has made regarding the role of an engaged reader. Playing with the form does not seem something he would be averse to.

I have tried to find out if there have been others who've sought solutions, beyond the ones he mentions. Why would he mention them at all, except to give hints to finding them within the text?

The "step-ladder" word-golf is not really pertinent to the thesis I am working on, though. I had some fun playing with it, and have shared for what it's worth. I am serious, however, in looking more deeply into Hazel's spirit message in the barn, which I think must have other levels of meaning beyond the plot level. The repetition of "Atalanta", Atalanta's association with the "coniunctio" (sacred marriage) of alchemy, Atalanta's parallel to Pope's Vanessa and Hazel as virgins - it all seems key to what Nabokov has called a higher thetic level.

I don't mean to harp on this, but if anyone knows of other attempts at interpretation, I would be most interested.

Mary

On Sat, Aug 5, 2017 at 4:41 AM, john crowley <john.crowley@yale.edu> wrote:

Several of those World Golf rounds don't follow the rules -- only one letter can change per turn. It seems you're picking up your ball and moving it to a better lie.

John Crowley

On Fri, Aug 4, 2017 at 6:58 PM, Mary Ross <maryross.illustrator@gmail.com> wrote:
I've been playing some word-golf in my thesis on Pale Fire, "Art, Alchemy and Failed Transcendence - Jungian influences in Pale Fire". Part of my argument is demonstrating that Shade, Kinbote and Gradus are three aspects of the same person: the Higher Self, Ego, and Lower Self.

I've taken the liberty of making my word-golf anagrams as well as changing one letter in each step. Also, each step has meaning within the text.

RAVUS = Gradus
RAVES = Kinbote
SHAVE = All 3 (beard disguise, shaving in tub, Gradus kills self with razor
SHADE = Shade

This could also be:

RAVUS = Gradus
RAVES = Kinbote
SHARE = All 3 share an identity
SHADE = Shade

Here’s are two anagram word golfs which also have meaning at each step:

GRADUS
D’ARGUS = Alias
GUARDS = Guards in the Palace
GRADES = Associated with Gradus
GRAVES = Death
GRAVEN = Engraved emblems
DANGER = Regicide
DRAGON = Alchemy
GARDEN = The Gardener

Here is one that changes Kinbote to the King:

KINBOTE
KINGBOT= aka botfly, a parasite larva (like Kinbote to Shade)
BOOKING = writing, publishing this book
BOOTING = a Botkin is a shoemaker
BETTING = Card games by guards (Nodo)
NETTING = Butterflies
RENTING = Botkine is renting Goldsworth’s house
REEKING = Botkine has halitosis
TREKING = Botkine’s escape from Zembla
TREMKIN =Word in Zemblan for “Dream King”

Here is one that changes Gradus to Nabokov (in a way)

RAVUS = Gradus
RAVEN = Alchemy
GRAVE = Death
GAMER = A game player, a trickster
GAMES = Games, puns, riddles within the book
MAGUS = Gradus, as Mercurius, is a magus, as is the master conjuror Nabokov

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