NPPF - preliminary

[The Great Quail]

Mondegreen writes,

> Re <<I think in many ways the *idea* of PF is more attractive than the
> actual novel itself.>> Here is a general idea: Brian Boyd remarked
> somewhere I think something to the effect that no writer repays careful
> reading more than Nabokov. Thank you Brian Boyd. The "actual novel itself"
> is a work of great depth and mysterious beauty.

Well, not to take on an unpopular opinion just for the sake of argument, but
I did read "Pale Fire" twice. I think it's a great book in many ways, but
not because of its "mysterious beauty." (Although I can certainly agree to
its "great depth.") I mean, obviously Nabokov is "writing as" Kinbote, hence
the pomposity in tone and occasional spots of overblown prose. And he
certainly does this well -- Kinbote comes across quite as fully realized as
Humbert. The issue for me is, I don't find Kinbote's "voice" as interesting
as I find Humbert's, and I appreciate the more fluid prose of "Lolita" a lot
more than the clunky twists of "Pale Fire." In fact, I find some of the
Zembla passages to verge on the tedious -- I was much more interested in
Kinbote's perceived relationship with Shade than his (probably fictional)
history. Again, I find the idea of Zembla and "Pale Fire" more interesting
than the actual manifestation of that idea.

I suppose I wanted Zembla to be even more fantastic -- give me more about
the Black Rose Paladins! Tell me more about its strange customs and
language! But not getting this, I'd default to wanting to know more about
Kinbote and Shade. To me, the best part of the book was Kinbote's delusional
relationship with the poet; his utter disregard for the real John Shade.

Anyway, while I appreciate that the prose of PF brings chills to Keith, and
you obviously enjoy it greatly, for my own taste, I occasionally found it
off-putting. Still, the structure, multiple-layers, and general idea of
"Pale Fire" I find magnificent.

And as for Boyd's comment, I am assuming he's excluding Joyce on the account
of it being so obvious...?

And finally, regarding Shade's actual poem... I think Mondegreen is dead-on
with his comments. What I find particularly amazing is that Nabokov wrote
the damn thing, and yet is feels so 100% utterly American. John Shade and
his poem just feel *right.* That just...well, it amazes me.

Respectfully,

--Quail

PS: Just to mention, I am actually a pretty big fan of Nabokov, and I do
think he's a genius. Back in high school, I was assigned "The Luzhin
Defense" and it just blew me away -- set me on the right path, so to
speak....