Zembla and the Ultima Thule: Paper outline

For my paper, I plan to explore the concept of Zembla as an ultima thule, a northern land that is beyond the boundaries of the known world. As a starting point, I will establish the interpretation that Zembla is an invention of Kinbote’s imagination and that it thus can be considered an imaginary land, an ultima thule. The Roman poet Virgil first used the term ultima thule to symbolize an unattainable goal, and I will attempt to identify Kinbote’s impossible aspiration. This discussion will also most likely include reference to Halvard Solness’s “castles in the air” in Ibsen’s The Master Builder, as the image of castles floating in the sky, like Zembla, symbolizes an impossible ambition.

Additionally, I plan to discuss the parallels between New Wye and Zembla, as if Zembla is an imaginary ultima thule, New Wye must in some way represent the real world. Some of the parallels may include the two universities, namely Wordsmith College in New Wye and the university a disguised Kinbote taught at in Zembla (page 76). There are parallels between the characters in Zembla and New Wye as well, such as the imaginary killer Jakob Gradus and the real killer Jack Grey and between Kinbote’s wife Disa and Sybil Shade (page 207). I might also discuss some of the more subtle and debatable similarities between characters in Zembla and New Wye, such as how Kinbote and Hazel Shade are both potentially mentally unstable (page 193).

As another topic for consideration, I will explore the importance of the name “Zembla” to the concept of the ultima thule, specifically with regard to how the name seems to be taken out of the word “resemblance.” It is intended that this connection will strengthen my argument about the parallels and resemblances between Zembla and New Wye. I will also conduct some research to see from where exactly Nabokov got the name “Zembla.” If it turns out that Zembla is referenced in other literary works, the connections will be important to understanding the significance of Kinbote’s “distant northern land.”

The final idea that I plan to discuss in my paper concerns the significance of the northern aspect to Zembla and the ultima thule, as both are not only imaginary places, but imaginary places in the north. Why must these fictitious places be in the north? I will try to find out whether there is some meaning or significance in mythology to the direction north that would make it appropriate to hold an imaginary land. This discussion will include references to The Biographer’s Tale, as A.S. Byatt mentions how Linnaeus would sometimes report having other-worldly experiences on his long journeys in the Lapland (an area in northern Scandinavia). Finally, I will bring in Henrik Ibsen’s plays, as the characters Hilda in The Master Builder and Dr. Stockmann in An Enemy of the People both make their appearances in the plot after returning from a sort of exile in the north. Ibsen seems to draw a lot of imagery from the northern latitudes, and perhaps this has some relevance to my discussion of the importance of Zembla’s northern location.