pale fire/short sun research paper

maa32 · 17 Apr 2003, 06:27 · from urth-v0304.mbox · original

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From: maa32 <maa32 at dana.ucc.nau.edu>
Subject: (urth) pale fire/short sun research paper
Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2003 23:27:04 -0700
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Since Pale Fire came up, I thought I would share with you that for the fina=
l=20
project in graduate school last year I wrote a paper which dealt in part wi=
th=20
metafictional narratives and how they actually instantiated faith in an=20
ultimate author no matter how hard they tried to avow a descent into nihili=
sm.
 I used unreliable narrators, and the two biggest primary sources were=20
Nabokov's Pale Fire and The Book of the Short Sun.

I agree with Boyd's comments on Pale Fire entirely.  (I will briefly summar=
ize=20
them - skip if you don't want to know)

s
p
o
i
l
e
r

He believes that the suicidal daughter of John Shade actually comes back in=20
the ubiquitous butterfly of the text to inspire Kinbote to finish the poem =
and=20
the commentary, and that his reveries of his mythic homeland actually DID=20
inspire Shade, even though he wasn't aware of it, because the inspiration f=
or=20
the poem (his dead daughter) and the inspiration for Kinbote's analysis (hi=
s=20
dead daughter) were the same, and that she reached out to Kinbote beyond de=
ath=20
in a butterfly because they were kindred spirits (he was going to kill hims=
elf=20
after finishing the commentary). There are other messages from beyond the=20
grave.  In it, I asserted that the crazy interpretation of Kinbote was=20
actually correct - Pale Fire shows how even the most absurd commentary on a=20
text can actually show us something profound about reality.
The statement "I am the shadow of the waxwing slain" is the daughter speaki=
ng=20
from beyond the grave - it is the final statement that Kinbote must complet=
e -=20
so that he can become the shadow of the waxwing slain.

I argued that the same thing was going on in The Book of the Short Sun - th=
at=20
while the narrator believed that he was writing about searching for his ido=
l=20
(silk) and his home, he was actually the idol trying to find the man who=20
worshipped him (Horn), who existed beyond death in a brute creature who aid=
ed=20
Silk(Babbie).  (so I made a link between the roles of animals as a return o=
f=20
things lost)  I talked about how the quest to find Silk became the reader's=20
quest to find Horn.  Silk was never hidden.  Horn was.  The paper is great,=20
but very complicated.  If anybody is interested, I might be able to get a=20
copy.  Remember that I had to present it in front of an audience that had=20
never read Short Sun, so some things are of course simplified.  In any case=
, I=20
was able to tie the two texts together very nicely (somehow).

Oh well.  (Writing my own book now - 23,000 words finished in the last week=
. =20
Writing is sure hard.  I don't think I can add any criticism of Wolfe's sho=
rt=20
fiction - I think often they operate like roman a clefs - you just need the=20
key to unlock them -  I think he is a great, great short story writer, and=20
Endangered Species is my favorite of his collections.  Heartily second "In =
the=20
House of Gingerbread" - I love that story - but I don't necessarily like ha=
ppy=20
stories.  I think he is the greatest at both short and long fiction - I don=
't=20
think anyone can touch him - but his willful obscurity can certainly frustr=
ate=20
if you don't hit on the right detail in the text.)

Marc Aramini

--=20

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