NPPF - Preliminary - Dedication and Epigraph

[Paul Mackin]

On Mon, 2003-07-07 at 09:47, Jasper Fidget wrote:
> The Dedication: "To Vera"
> 
> All of VN's work is dedicated to his wife.  In this particular case, given
> the novel's attention to Shade's relationship with Sybil (reading the poem
> to her, addressing her from within it), "To Vera" has been linked to "To
> Sybil" as evidence toward a particular interpretation of authorship (the
> so-called "Shadean" reading -- for a discussion of the Shadean reading as
> well as other theories see Boyd's article here: 



The dedication to Vera resonates with still another theory of
authorship. She announced to the world her husband's interest in the
otherworldly.

P.
> 
> http://www.libraries.psu.edu/iasweb/nabokov/boydonmc.htm
> 
> -- would it be useful post a brief list of the existing authorship
> theories...?).
> 
> The Epigraph:
> 
> "This reminds me of the ludicrous account[...]"
> 
> There is a paragraph preceding the one quoted that introduces Hodge in _Life
> of Samuel Johnson_; this is the larger quote:
> 
> "I never shall forget the indulgence with which he treated Hodge, his cat:
> for whom he himself used to go out and buy oysters, lest the servants having
> that trouble should take a dislike to the poor creature.  I am, unluckily,
> one of those who have an antipathy to a cat, so that I am uneasy when in the
> room with one; and I own, I frequently suffered a good deal from the
> presence of this same Hodge.  I recollect him one day scrambling up Dr.
> Johnson's breast, apparently with much satisfaction, while my friend smiling
> and half-whistling, rubbed down his back, and pulled him by the tail; and
> when I observed he was a fine cat, saying, 'Why yes, Sir, but I have had
> cats whom I liked better than this;' and then as if perceiving Hodge to be
> out of countenance, adding, 'but he is a very fine cat, a very fine cat
> indeed.'
> 
> This reminds me of the ludicrous account which he gave Mr. Langton, of the
> despicable state of a young Gentleman of good family.  'Sir, when I heard of
> him last, he was running about town shooting cats.' And then in a sort of
> kindly reverie, he bethought himself of his own favourite cat, and said,
> 'But Hodge shan't be shot; no, no, Hodge shall not be shot.'"  (_Life of
> Johnson_, Chapter 41)
> 
> I will delay sponsoring any theories for the time being, but:
> 
> Perhaps most importantly, this is described by Boswell as a "ludicrous
> account".
> 
> Kinbote would have himself a sort of Boswell for Shade (among other things),
> and the image of "a young gentleman of good family [...] running about town
> shooting" summons to mind another of PF's characters, but if we are to make
> substitutions, then which (or who) is Johnson's favorite cat?  And why?
> 
> Kinbote shan't be shot; no, no, Kinbote shall not be shot?  Shade shan't be
> shot: no, no, Shade shall not be shot?  Goldsworth shall not be... and so
> on.
> 
> On page 112 Kinbote says, "some cats are less repugnant than others to the
> good-natured dog told to endure the bitter effluvium of an alien genus".
> The context is of Kinbote's brief time spent in the company of Fleur de
> Fyler, whose repeated attempts to seduce him (Fleur de Fyler -> flower
> defiler -> de-virginizer) are met with annoyance or indifference (Kinbote is
> homosexual).
> 
> Incidentally, there is what appears to be a typo in this quote as it appears
> in _Pale Fire_, namely the colon in the last sentence "But Hodge shan't be
> shot: no" appears as a semicolon in Boswell's work (in all the sources at my
> disposal anyway, none of which have been translated from Zemblan).
> 
> Boswell's _Life of Samuel Johnson_:
> http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/b/b74l/
> http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=1564
> 
> 
> akaJasperFidget
>