NPPF -- Published or not published?

[The Great Quail]

Just for some background...my own interpretation is the relatively
straight-forward one, that Kinbote and Shade are both "real," and that the
novel may be taken essentially as presented -- a "real" poem in the hands of
a "real" madman.

Though Keith's suggestions about Shade/Maud incest are pretty intriguing --
I think a lot of us will be keeping that in mind as we re-read the poem
itself. 

David Morris writes,

> I'm seeing evidence that the "book" or "writing" doesn't exist at all.  There
> are a few places where the "writer" drops his cover and blurts out an
> exclamation that doesn't fit as writing but more as a mental outburst.
> Implying a very strange form of stream of consciousness.

Certainly plausible -- though, part of Kinbote's agreement is that the final
text not be edited by anyone but himself. If we read PF as being under
Kinbote's control, including his "editing" of Shade's poem, it is spiked
with bizarre elements that would clearly be edited out of any real
manuscript. (Kinbote's irritated outbursts, his uncertainty of facts, that
strange "Insert" line in the foreword....)

Kinbote himself claims on several occasions to be rushed, and it certainly
seems that what we are reading is a first draft....

> I agree that at LEAST one of the characters is responsible for its contents,
> but NOT that he got it published.  I don't think it got published at all.

I have my suspicions there, too. I don't think we are reading a "published"
manuscript, but the hurried and misguided ravings of a parasitical madman.

I wonder, actually...if Kinbote is making up Zembla, what else is he making
up? Recall, other "characters" mention Zembla and even Charles; such as the
academics at Wordsmith. If he can place those words in their mouths, why
can't he also imagine their criticisms of his "contract" as well? What if
the whole "farrago" is delusional, and he merely *stole* the manuscript
outright? Perhaps he is hiding away, writing up a delusional framework that
rationalizes his theft, therefore *also* imagining the so-called critical
response and unreturned phone calls?

Though I confess, this is just "what-if" speculation. There's something
about the passages referring to the academic community at large and Sybil's
responses to him that ring true, given Kinbote's general personality....

Wheels within wheels....

--Quail