NPPF commentary line 149, p. 143-

[Michael Joseph]

P. 143 takes Charles further up in his ascent. Most of p. 143 recounts an
episode wherein he apprehends a doubleganger (The apparition of a living
person; a double, a wraith). This section suggests a continuation of
Nabokov/Shade's "mirrorplay and mirage shimmer" (p. 135).

"In its limpid tintarron he saw his scarlet reflection ... " Tintarron
would appear to signify a shade of blue. (Note that tintarron does not
appear in the OED or the Century Illustrated; "tintamar" means "a confused
noise; an uproar." Is tintarron a word or is Kinbote confused? Or is
Nabokov calling attention to this passage with his neologism?) In his
essay "A Hall of Mirrors," Benjamin D. Marten suggests that in the
description of Charles looking into the "limid tintarron" Nabokov is
prescribing a way to read Pale Fire.

"In its limpid tintarron he saw his scarlet reflection but, oddly enough,
owing to what seemed to be at first blush an optical illusion, this
reflection was not at his feet but much further; moreover, it was
accompanied by the ripple-warped reflection of a ledge that jutted high
above his present position. He now advanced to the very lip of the water
and was met there by a genuine reflection, much larger and clearer than
the one that had deceived him. (143) This long description of Kinbote
(who is also the King in his story) admiring this false reflection is
Nabokovs advice for how to view this piece of literature. Observe it from
afar, from which it is twisted and changed, through the eyes of Kinbote,
and than after the commentary is through look at what truly is there, and
what really took place without it being warped by the deranged
commentator."

Having spied what he assumes to be the apparition of another Charles in
the water (although this will be explained on p. 144), Charles experiences
"a shiver of alfear (uncontrollable fear caused by elves)" (143) and
proceeds apace, where he comes upon "a heap of stones erected as a memento
of an ascent [which] had donned a cap of red wool in his [Charles'] honor"
(144). Kinbote pedantically tells us this is a "steinmann," which
climbers' dictionaries translate as "cairn."

The personification of "steinmann" (cairn) "donning a cap" creates an
interesting tension with the depersonification of Garh ("mere mechanism").
Rocks have humanity, and agency, women do not.

The underlying spiritual affinition of Garh with the dead Hazel (marked by
the appearance of the black butterfly) is mirrored in the affinition of
Charles with the crowned "stone man." The suggestion of morbidity is
further strengthened lingistically. In English, "cairn" primarily means "a
pyramid of rough stones, raised for a memorial or mark of some kind:  a.
as a memorial of some event, or a sepulchral monument over the grave of
some person of distinction." The sepulchral connotation of the image is
stabilized in a linguistic link with earlier commentary on line 143 (p.
137), where Shade is remembered to have described the clockwork toy as a
kind of memento mori. Kinbote evokes this description here in his
justification for the steinmann as a "MEMENTO of an ascent" [emphasis
mine]. Thus, Kinbote unwittingly raises his own memorial to which,
clearly, the red cap adds a touch of derision.

Perhaps Nabokov's fascination with mirrorplay within the interpretive act
("texture not text") is reflected here, too. The god Hermes, from which
derives "hermeneutic" (OED: "Belonging to or concerned with
interpretation; esp. as distinguished from exegesis or practical
exposition") received his name from herma, the Greek word for a cairn of
stones. The 'herm' was a pillar of stones, a marker for the dead.  Hermes
translated souls to the underworld and mediated between humans and the
gods, between the living and the dead. (And, like the steinmann Charles,
yet another "counterfeit king," Hermes wore a cap, which rendered him
invisible.) The steinmann/cairn therefore bears a range of meanings:
Kinbote's deadness, his invisibility, Kinbote's "translation" of the dead
poet's message, and the strategy of creative hermeneutics Nabokov's
mirrorplay invites.

The Liminality of Hermes and the Meaning of Hermeneutics
http://www.mac.edu/faculty/richardpalmer/liminality.html

---also
Hermes http://www.belinus.co.uk/mythology/Hermes.htm

Ancient Greek Culture http://www.noteaccess.com/APPROACHES/AGW/Hermes.htm

Hermes and the Creation of Space http://www.jungatlanta.com/hermes.html

The red-capped cairn also alludes back to the text Kinbote is enacting by
assiduously avoiding, and once more telescopes Shade and Kinbote. The
steinmann Charles recapitulates Shade's "my age of stone" (line 155)--just
as Charles' "shiver of alfear" (p. 143) recalls the first part of that
line, "an icy shiver down . . .." (line 155) Shade and Kinbote seem to be
texturally and viscerally spliced--and perhaps the implication is that the
deranged mysoginist, the fake or failed king, is redeemed by such
recondite similarities with the authentic poet as may appear in the eye of
a playful reader.


Michael