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secretfanspace

A space to chat fandom! Anon!

Got a WIP you're excited about? Want to rave about your fave? Or is your fandom absolutely in love with a character who detracts from every scene they bumble into, and you need somewhere to vent? You're in the right place!

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From: (Anonymous)

Canto 4 discusses the difficulties of shaving while being an old fat man. Well, I get the feeling he's going for the contrast of the high thoughts (as the narrator constantly wonders about the afterlife and the structure of the universe) and the everyday smallness of living as a body, so some of the vulgarity is intentional for that effect, even early on, but I refuse to believe that anyone can describe a tv as a "giant paperclip" and think it sounds good. Anyway the descriptions of shaving and the writing process sound like he's just writing about himself, and quite straightforwardly, there, and tbf sounds difficult.

From: (Anonymous)

A hilight:

The poet has a near-death experience and sees a magazine interview with a woman who seems to have had the same one. He's excited by this glimpse of the hereafter, since her corroboration is evidence that the experience was real! So he goes to meet her. But when he gets there, she treats what he's thinking of as a momentous occasion as a standard social call, starts chatting about poetry, and the vibe is wrong, so he decides not to tell her they have a transcendental experience in common because he thinks that will cheapen it plus he thinks she'll take it as a sign they should be besties. I can't think of an analogous experience and yet I can empathise totally.

From: (Anonymous)

Anyway, will be interesting to see if I retain my feeling that canto 1 is trying to be as bad as possible on purpose, as I read on. One reason = rhyming couplets. Those always read as intrinsically comedic to me and as a result there's a lot of poetry (from the 1800s, especially) I find unreadable. The rhymes in this one are also terribly chosen, as though he's trying to find as many cliches and just plain ugly phrases as possible, and it switches between jarringly casual and the most purple of prose. May quote in a bit.

From: (Anonymous)

So, the book is basically narrated by birdsrightsactivist:

https://64.media.tumblr.com/b56d87e247411688ad441dbf6a7212d8/tumblr_inline_nboyquFl5k1sue3cq.jpg

who writes commentary on the poem that basically ignores the actual content in favour of talking about his own life. And yet somehow this is still more on topic than a lot of commentary I've seen over the years. At least so far he isn't dragging sex into places where it's absent in the original. So idk how much this is trying to be parody vs just trying to be funny in a standalone way, because honestly real commentary is often worse.

Anyway, what is certain is that Kinbote is the worst neighbour ever. Not only does he spy on the poet, he does so using binoculars while standing behind a tree, and he seems to do this *all day*. He creeps around the poet's house in the dark, and is furious at the poet's wife for closing the blinds so he can't spy on them further. In general he's very jealous and angry toward her, and assumes he has an intimacy with the poet that seems completely delusional. The couple seem to be aware of him (he's a noisy spy) and are creeped out (they fob him off with excuses), but they're trying to keep the peace because they are neighbours. He interrupts them while they're grieving a loved one, then hangs around their house in the hopes they might share some private poetry with him (he seems surprised that this does not happen). And he spends his whole time hoping the poet suffers a heart attack so that he can perform a dramatic rescue and be seen as a hero.

So now I'm wondering if he might have shot and killed the poet by accident while trying to stage some peril so that he could he could play rescuer. Seems a bit much, but this man does also seem to believe he's an exiled king (I'm not even sure if he's delusional or legit on this one). And apparently he has bad breath. That's not got much to do with anything, but I'm wondering if this work came out of a thought experiment of "who would be the worst neighbour imaginable?" and so we can expect a mountain of ludicrous qualities piled on top of each other.

From: (Anonymous)

Also seems like Professor X is named after this guy, though I think just because "Charles Xavier" is a good name rather than because they wanted to imply any resemblance. Could be a complete coincidence but seems unlikely.

From: (Anonymous)

I have decided that the book is funnier if he *is* a king, so therefore he is a king. Though his story of his escape seems too fantastical and neat. So currently I have decided that he is a king, but one who's lying about that bit.

From: (Anonymous)

I've been intentionally avoiding reading any interpretation until I finish, while also failing to read for a bit. Got a little further this weekend. Currently wondering if part of the story behind it was Nabokov reading literary commentary and going "pah! This commentary is terrible! It never explains the bits I want explained, and it's boring! If the author wishes to talk about irrelevant things, it would be much enlivened with a story of a fugitive king, and a murder, and...". Because where it seems accurate, it does quite consistently explain the confusing things and leave the obvious things alone. And where no explanation is needed, we get king-drama.

From: (Anonymous)

Kinbote is a character straight out of a mumsnet aibu thread.

Poet and Sybil (poet's wife) are shopping. Kinbote has run into them at (or maybe stalked them to) the shops. Sybil has a new travel bag.

Kinbote: OH ARE YOU GOING ON HOLIDAY SOMETIME???

Sybil: Er, yes, at the end of the month.

Kinbote: WHERE???

Sybil: Oh, w-we don't know yet, must be going!

*Kinbote quizzes a mutual acquaintance.*

*Kinbote gets a few details about whereabouts in the country they'll be staying*

*Kinbote grabs a ton of maps and travel books, works out where their holiday home must be, and books another cabin in the same place at the same time*

Kinbote: HAHAHA THEY WILL BE SO SURPRISED TO SEE ME