Comments on in-class presentations

In her presentation on Tuesday, Madeleine brought up an interesting point regarding Nabokov’s ideal writer. Nabokov thought that writers should first and foremost be enchanters, followed by teachers and storytellers. This view on the responsibilities of writers is fascinating, as it seems to run counter to the popular argument that all writing should teach a lesson in some form or another. But this point is certainly applicable to Pale Fire, as while readers most certainly learn and make discoveries throughout the text, they are more than anything enchanted by Nabokov’s writing.

Michael’s presentation was very well done, and the complex image of a magnetic chess board on a windowpane was both ingenious and relevant. His theory that readers of Pale Fire are like Kinbote, escaped kings whose moves depend on the opposing action of a higher figure, was something that I had not thought about before. The more I think about it, the more it makes sense – the reader’s relationship to Nabokov is very similar to Kinbote’s relationship to Shade. As readers we are controlled by Nabokov’s moves, but at the same time we, like Kinbote, are left alone to interpret in different manners the text of a great writer.

Breanna’s discussion of spirals as a representation of eternity was fascinating, and it was interesting to learn that Nabokov preferred the image of the spiral to that of the circle. This discussion reminded me of the ancient Anasazi culture of the American southwest, who left numerous images of spirals as pictographs or petroglyphs on rock outcroppings and canyon walls. I have seen petroglyphs of spirals, and I have always been curious as to their meaning. After listening to Breanna’s presentation, I am beginning to think that these messages left by the Anasazi have something to do with the endless twist of time.


As I mentioned in class, the performance of one of Bach’s fugues in Sarah’s presentation made me think of another connection to eternity – this one in relation to music. The counterpoint technique in the fugue utilizes inversion and repetition, which can be interpreted to resemble singing in around. The classic example of singing in around is “Row, row, row your boat,” which will go on without end because each time one group finishes the song, a different group has already started again. In this way, Sarah did a great job of connecting music to the idea of the eternal.