NPPF Canto 1 "smudge of ashen fluff"

[Kevin Troy]

On Fri, 25 Jul 2003, MalignD wrote:
> <<Rob Jackson:>>
> <<... and the incongruity of his own work habits.
> In fact, it seems to me that Shade's the one who
> measures creativity and aesthetic value -- let alone
> personal grief -- in terms of a fixed quota of lines
> per day.>>
>
> Here you're losing me.  I see no correlation between
> work habits and quality.  Hemingway, for one, famously
> kept page counts; worked three hours, then knocked
> off; half a dozen #2 pencils then quit, etc.

I think Rob has misunderstood Kinbote's use of "daily quota" -- if you
look carefully of Kinbote's calendar in the foreward and consult the
commentary, you'll see that Shade sometimes wrote a little more or less on
a given day.  But granted, there is a sense of him plodding forward with
iambic feet.  (And do see Kinbote's note to lines 17 and 29.)

If anything, I see Shade's workmanlike writing habits as poignant, a sign
of his struggle to get the word out.  They're the "method B" he describes
in the beginning of Canto Four.  ("Method A" reminds me a lot of the blind
chess Luzhin enjoys so much in _The Defense_.)

The debate on this point reminds me of the contrast between the passionate
Hamlet and the workmanlike Player King.
(scroll to bottom of
http://the-tech.mit.edu/Shakespeare/hamlet/hamlet.2.2.html
for Hamlet's soliloquoy on the subject.)

Cheers,
Kevin T.