Fwd: NPPF - Pale Fire Chronology (Part 4 (5 Next))

[David Morris]

> Feb. 7? 8?
> Kinbote sees the Shades having trouble getting out of their icy
> driveway ("one of my first mornings there") (FW).
>
> Feb. 16
> Kinbote meets Shade at lunch at the Faculty Club (FW).
>
> A few days later
> Kinbote gives Shade a ride home (via Community Center), where Sybil
> introduces herself.  Kinbote has "a kind of a little seminar...
> with two charming identical twins and another boy, another boy"
> (Bad Bob?) (FW).
>
> Thereafter
> Kinbote entertains himself by spying on the Shades (FW).
>
> Late Feb.?
> Kinbote shows Shade some of Judge Goldsworth's notes, having saved
> them at least two weeks (n. 47-48).
>
> March 14
> Kinbote attends a dinner party at the Shades'.  Sometime after this
> and probably before May 23, Kinbote has the Shades over for dinner
> along with the son of a padishah (n. 579).
>
> March 21? 22?
> Shade, Kinbote, and Bob go to a "dreary get-together party" at
> Prof. C.'s house.  Bob takes a color snapshot of Kinbote and Shade.
> Mrs. C. snickers as Kinbote helps Shade find his galoshes (FW).
>
> March 28?
> While Shade takes a bath, Kinbote talks with him about a reference
> Kinbote is to look up on his trip to Washington, but neither can
> remember what it is (FW).
>
> March 28? 29?
> Kinbote is in Washington.  Bob uses this absence "by entertaining
> a fiery-haired whore from Exton".  This is a week after Prof. C.'s
> party, and it seems reasonable to put Kinbote's trip on a weekend
> (FW).
>
> March 30
> Kinbote, back from Washington, evicts Bob (FW, n. 802).  For the
> next several nights "neither wine, nor music, nor prayer could
> allay my fears."  Possibly during this period, Kinbote sees the
> Goldsworths' cat with a white bow around its neck and, believing
> someone has broken in, calls the police (n. 62).
>
> April?
> As leaves block Kinbote's view, he gets more bold and proficient
> about spying on the Shades (n. 47-49).
>
> April 2
> Kinbote writes to Disa about his night fears and living next to Shade.
> The letter includes his alias and the address of Wordsmith University
> (n. 768, I.).
>
> Early April?
> "After a maddening and embarrassing experience at the college
> indoor swimming pool", Kinbote meets a needy young black man who
> starts gardening for him the next day (n. 998).
>
> "Soon after Easter" (which is March 29)
> Kinbote's gardener moves in and his nocturnal fears stop (n. 62).
>
> April 6
> Kinbote receives a letter from Disa containing Shade's "The Sacred
> Tree" (n. 49).  Is this too fast to be an answer to his letter?
>
> Still April
> Kinbote has recently hired the gardener.  The subject of
> anti-Semitism comes up at the Faculty Club, after which Shade and
> Kinbote discuss Prejudice and the term "colored" (n. 470).
>
> Late April to early May
> Spring bird migration in Appalachia, presumably the peak of Kinbote's
> bird identification with his gardener's help (n. 1-4).
>
> Spring
> It's announced that Odon is in Paris, and the Extremist government
> in Zembla conjectures that the ex-king has left the country.  The
> Shadows determine to hunt him down (n. 171).  This is probably
> late in spring, as it's "almost a year" after the king escaped
> in August, and it shouldn't be too long before Gradus draws the
> fatal card on July 2.
>
> May 23
> Kinbote attends a second souper chez Shade.  Sometime, probably
> after this and before giving Shade the plan of the palace, he
> has the Shades over for a second dinner, with his gardener as
> the other guest. (n. 579).
>
> May or June
> Kinbote and Shade look for Shade's grandfather's pamphlets in
> Shade's basement, and Kinbote sees the clockwork toy, in the form
> of a black man, that Shade was playing with when he had his first
> fainting spell (n. 143).  During an evening stroll, Kinbote tells
> Shade the story of himself and Disa and encourages Shade to
> include it in the poem (n. 433-434).
>
> End of May
> Kinbote can "make out the outlines of some of my images in the shape
> his genius might give them" (n. 42).
>
> June
> Kinbote has at least nine sunset rambles with Shade (n. 238).
> At some point he draws and gives to Shade a plan of the Onhava
> Palace. He stays for lunch (n. 71).
> Probably sometime after this, he has the Shades over for dinner
> with the blonde in the black leotard as the other guest (n. 570).
>
> Mid June
> Kinbote feels sure Shade will write a poem about Zembla and
> increases his efforts  to "saturate" Shade with Zemblan stories
> (n. 42).
>
> June 23
> Kinbote and Shade play "a game of chess, a draw" and then converse
> on Kinbote's terrace about sin, God, and the afterlife (n. 549).
>
> Late June
> According to Shade's obituary, this is when he writes "The Swing",
> though Kinbote believes it dates to shortly after Hazel's death
> (n. 61).
>
> July 2
> At 12:05 AM Zemblan time, Gradus is chosen by a show of cards to
> assassinate Kinbote (n. 171).
> Shortly after midnight EDT, Shade starts "Pale Fire" (FW, n. 1-4).
> Meanwhile Kinbote  plays chess with an Iranian summer student
> (n. 1-4).
>
> Early or mid July
> Shade recites an obscure friend's poetry at a Summer School party
> at the Hurleys', and Kinbote hears Shade and Mrs. H. discuss an
> insane porter, or Kinbote himself (n. 629).
>


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