NPPF -- Why care about Kinbote?

[Terrance]

MalignD at aol.com wrote:
> 
> I must say that I find the caption of this string depressing, the idea
> that one needs characters that are likeable, that one can identify
> with, that one can "care" about.
> 
> Kinbote is pretty richly on the page:  witty, appalling,
> narcissisitic, delusional, grandiose, a ping-pong enthusiast -- not
> enough for you?
> 
> Not to pick unnecessarily on TP, but to offer an example to hand:  did
> you find yourselves "caring" about either of those two-dimensional
> effigies, Mason or Dixon?

Not me. I don't care about anything. But I must say, it's a wonderful
old thread ...  the idea that a reader might care about a character in a
fiction. In fact, N talks about it in his lectures. And so do most
people who talk seriously about the art of fiction. So what's your
problem?