child abuse in Pale Fire

[Michael Joseph]

I second Paul M's suggestion - let's allow Keith to develop his theory, or
concatenate references, and suspend our disbelief meanwhile. Whether we
are ultimately convinced or not, the interpretive play will be fun. I
would like to additionally note that it might help to distinguish the
meanings of the terms we are using, and conceptualize what is alleged to
have been done to John Shade in its appropriate terms. To wit, if Aunt
Maud has engaged the poet in sating her sexual needs through oral
stimulation, she and he have not committed an act of incest. Here is how
the O.E.D. defines incest, which pretty nearly mirrors Websters.

Incest

. a. The crime of sexual intercourse or cohabitation between persons
related within the degrees within which marriage is prohibited; sexual
commerce of near kindred.

  a1225 Ancr. R. 204 Incest..is bitwhwe sibbe, vleshliche oer gostliche.
a1300 Cursor M. 27942 Incest, at es for to lij bi at i sibman has line bi,
or if ou has don at sin wit ani of in aun kin. c1440 Jacob's Well
(E.E.T.S.) 162 Neyther may be weddyd to oeres kyn, in-to e fyfte degre, ne
medle wyth hem; for if ei don, it is incest. 1548 UDALL Erasm. Par. Luke
iii. (R.), Thys holy man coulde not abide such incest and vnnaturalnesse
of mariage in a king's house. 1603 SHAKES. Meas. for M. III. i. 139 Is't
not a kinde of Incest, to take life From thine owne sisters shame? 1840
MACAULAY Ess., Ranke (1851) II. 137 Its annals are black with treason,
murder, and incest. 1868 FARRAR Seekers III. iii. (1875) 299 Hideous
charges of cannibalism and incest.

(There are other usages but they are not relevant.)

On the other hand, here is the O.E.D. definition of child abuse (found as
a special usage under abuse).

22. Special combs.: child abuse, maltreatment of a child, esp. by beating,
sexual interference, or neglect;

Keith has proposed that PF makes covert allusions to an abusive
relationship, in which "sexual interference" was a prominent and recurrent
feature, and not an incestuous relationship. I suggest that, as we
proceed, we will lose sight of Nabokov completely if we ignore the
distinction, unless we can determine that somehow Nabokov himself ignored
it.



Michael

 On 30 Jul 2003, Paul Mackin wrote:

> On Wed, 2003-07-30 at 14:02, s~Z wrote:
> > >>> But somehow I don't think
> > child seduction resulting in serious trauma and lifelong complications
> > would greatly interest an author who was capable of dealing with the
> > subject as tragicomic love stories as in Lolita and Ada.<<<
> >
> > Two fine examples of Nabokov's lack of interest in child seduction and
> > incest.
> >
>
> Interesting examples, the operative word being interesting. (also heart
> rending, disapprove what one will)
>
> Of course the incest suggestions in Pale Fire could TURN interesting.
> We're only on Canto Two.
>
> P.
>
>
>
>
>