NPPF Comm 2: Parents: some notes

[Don Corathers]

I know we agreed to disagree on this, but I'd like to disagree just a little
bit further.


Rob:

> Your thesis doesn't really seem to fit with the other mentions of Botkin
> which Kinbote makes in the commentary;

Not sure what you mean by this. Botkin turns up again in the Commentary on p
267, in the context of an extended conversation about Kinbote's resemblance
to the king of Zembla and his true identity. Here it is:

"Professor Pardon now spoke to me: 'I was under the impression that you were
born in Russia, and that your name was a kind of anagram of Botkin or
Botkine?'

"Kinbote: 'You are confusing me with some refugee from Nova Zembla'
[sarcastically stressing the 'Nova'].

"'Didn't you tell me, Charles, that kinbote means regicide in your
language?' asked my dear Shade.

"'Yes, a king's destroyer,' I said (longing to explain that a king who sinks
his identity in the mirror of exile is in a sense just that).

"Shade [addressing the German visitor]: 'Professor Kinbote is the author of
a remarkable book on surnames...'"

This exchange, coming after a discussion of Kinbote's resemblance to
photographs of the King of Zembla, connects him to Botkin and then loops
back to the earlier passage--the one on p. 100 we were discussing--with the
reference to Kinbote's expertise in surnames. And it invites us to explore
his identity further. We know that he's not the King of Zembla. What about
this guy Botkin?

If we turn to the index we find Botkin has one of the more mysterious and
provocative entries, with a string of references that connect the name to
new mysteries and investigations.

If Botkin is Kinbote's true identity, and I think we'll eventually conclude
that it is, it shouldn't be surprising that the references to him in the
Commentary, which is Kinbote's text, are veiled. My thesis, which is kind of
a strong word for the point I was making, is that in the passage on p. 100
as elsewhere (the cited passage on p 267, the Botkin entry in the index)
Nabokov is pretty explicitly pointing us in directions that will help us
open up his novel.

 Lukin, Locock, Luxon and Lukashevich
> aren't names which refer to writers;

But as Kinbote is pointing out, they're all derivatives of the Biblical
Luke, who was a writer.

Don



----- Original Message -----
From: "jbor" <jbor at bigpond.com>
To: <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Sunday, August 31, 2003 2:52 AM
Subject: Re: NPPF Comm 2: Parents: some notes


> on 31/8/03 3:09 PM, Don Corathers at gumbo at fuse.net wrote:
>
> > The inclusion of Botkin in a list of names where it doesn't really fit
> > (three writers--four counting Luke--and a shoemaker) is a way of
pointing at
> > the name. Nabokov does this now and then, makes an odd intrusion or has
one
> > of his characters say we shouldn't concern ourselves with X, which is
> > usually a clear signal that we should check X out very carefully.
> >
> > And the paragraph is about how names change.
>
>
> We'll just have to agree to disagree.
>
> best
>