Class Notes 10/13

10/13/2009 marked the first day devoted to the discussion of Pale Fire.

Recommended book: Generosity by Richard Powers

Nabokov's idea of art: beauty + pity = art
see page 225 of Pale Fire, the conversation about original sin, the password is pity.
pity can be linked to the word generosity

Blogging Homework: read everyone's 2 pg papers that should be posted on their blogs. Then choose the best one, and write a paragraph or commentary. Don't be offended if yours does not get chosen. Often people choose things because they can relate to it. (My previous blog is my commentary on Jennie Lynn's paper, The Blue Hotel).

many ways to go about reading a text. what do you bring to the text? to illuminate the text.

ALSO, Blog the 6 most annoying things about Kinbote, and we say most annoying because most of Kinbote is annoying.

We began by talking about Pale Fire at a basic level, identifying the parts of the novel.
-the Foreword by Kinbote
-Pale Fire a poem by John Shade, 999 lines, 4 cantos, heroic rhyming couplets.
-Commentary by Kinbote, undertakes to explicate line by line
-Index, A-Z. Last index entry is Zembla, a distant northern land. The commentator truly has the last word.

both John Shade and Nabokov work with note cards.

Another Blog topic suggestion in class was to come to the defence of Kinbote. Poor, misunderstood Kinbote.
Parker called him a pompous dick. Which is not at all an exaggeration. Kinbote seems to have no self awareness.

T.S. Eliot

Talked about theft and stealing. Everybody is a thief, nothing is original.
Waxwing bird has a black mask, suggests thievery....(speaking about waxwing, see my Ode to the Waxwing blog. this guy did a funny youtube video I posted it, also see the picture of the waxwing Joan posted on her blog. Breathtaking).

Themes? -the notion of living on - how do mortals become immortal? - the cage


I think the idea is to have Pale Fire done by Thursday, but I realize, myself included, we might not get it done. I'm a little over halfway done. Happy reading.