Pnin — Did the Russian Émigre Retreat really happen as narrated?

[Anonymous No.15117524]

This is something that has been bugging me for a while recently. I thought maybe it would be fun to discuss on /lit/ and some of you might have answers/ideas.

So if you've read Pnin, you'll know the narrator doesn't like Pnin very much. As you read the book you slowly become aware that the narrator is a character in the novel and that he isn't unbiased. If I remember right (it's been over 2 years) the narrator actually stole Pnin's wife from him and is somewhat responsible for some of the downturn's of Pnin's life. So the narrator has it in for Pnin and gets a laugh from making a fool of Pnin. Hence the lighthearted comic tone of the novel, with emphasis on Pnin being an odd, fish-out-of-water, bungling idiot. But then we have the idyll at the Russian Émigre Retreat. Here the character of Pnin shines. He is a Russian superstar. Everyone at the retreat looks up to him and respects him. He is shown to be suave, I think a ladies man, and extremely skilled. Completely opposite of what we've come to expect of Pnin. Of course this creates a comedic effect and builds on Nabokov's theme of being an émigre in a foreign country, etc. Ok but here's my problem. The narrator has it in for Pnin. He loves making him look like an idiot. The whole novel is narrated by him, so he is narrating the Russian Émigre Retreat. So why should I believe the narration of the events? Isn't it likely the narrator set up this comedic contrast on purpose? Isn't it likely the whole event is fabricated? Maybe I'm reading too much into it. Any thoughts?

[Anonymous No.15117759]

>>15117524
Nabokov likes this device, biased narrators who attempt to convince themselves that they're playing fair-- Humbert's in charge of Lolita's story, Kinbote of John Shade's, and Sebastian Knight's biographer in The Real Life of SK-- part of reading these novels is collecting evidence contrary to the narrator's bias and discovering negatively presented characters as almost paragons of decency, innocence, even virtue. One such is Sybil Shade in Pale Fire who slowly becomes an almost ideal woman, certainly the best wife for a poet such as John Shade: protective of him, his legacy, and a woman he obviously loves very deeply-- and all this despite Kinbote's consistently portraying her as a harridan. In Sebastian Knight one comes to realize that the biographer himself is more interesting than his subject-- but I don't want to spoil anything, so stopping here
Same applies in Pnin, the conclusion of which I found mildly heartbreaking

[Anonymous No.15117823]

Is this your first post-modern novel? I usually just take things at face value just to stick it to the author. Kinbote was really a king.

[Anonymous No.15118275]

>>15117823
If you took Pale Fire 100% completely at face value, wasn't Kinbote just a civilian refugee from Zembla?
He very clearly dips into the king narrative to imply that it's him, and that's the first fake-out non-twist you'd get on a very cursory reading, but I know that at least most of the time he pretends he's talking about the king in third person, so if you take all of his words completely literally he still wasn't the king but just a very big admirer. It's been at least three years since I read it, though, and my copy was borrowed and never given back, so I can't double check right now to see if he eventually broke the wall.
I've never read Pnin but I definitely want to. Nabokov was the best puzzlemaker of all time.

[Anonymous No.15118306]

Whoa, an actual literature thread on /lit/ ...
How long will it last?

[Anonymous No.15118330]

>>15118306
Not very long. The topic is too focused for the majority of litposters to engage. To be fair I as OP haven't been responding, but responses I got were, yeah this is what Nabokov does. Which I agree, I've read 90% of his work. Favorite was Despair. I like to think of it as a practice run for Lolita.

[Anonymous No.15118358]

>>15117524
Why would the narrator who hates him try to portray him as cool and suave? Chances are you are meant to take the narration with a grain of salt like with Humbert Humbert.

[Anonymous No.15118689]

>>15118330
>Despair
Has to be one of the least-discussed works of his. I know nothing about it, explain and tell me why it's your favorite

[Anonymous No.15118719]

>>15118358
That's the rub. The narrator dislike Pnin, but there's a whole chapter dedicated to him being a superstar. Why?
I don't have an answer, but it might be because it makes Pnin look more ridiculous. He's out-of-place and a bumbling fool, but at home with Russians/Russian culture he's a superstar. I think it's just a section for the narrator to have one on with Pnin.

[Anonymous No.15118740]

>>15118689
This business man comes across his doppelganger and plans to use him to fake his death so he can abscond with his money before his failing business causes him to lose it all. I see it as a runner-up to Lolita because it's one of the early novels where Nabokov explores an unreliable narrator. It feels very similar to because you also have a criminal trying to explain away his actions. Despair is written from the hotel where the main character is making his final stand; Lolita, from Humbert's prison cell. I enjoyed it. I think it should be read before Lolita for sure.

[Q No.15120095]

>>15117759
Kinbotes constant shade throwing at Sybil was extremely funny. One point that interests me is that kinbote has a affinity to shades dead daughter which I still can’t make heads or tails of. Also I’ve just came across some information that pale fire is a ghost story story in the end and so is Lolita on a more symbolic level

[Anonymous No.15120143]

Dont think I've read Nabakov before (STEM monkey)
Other than Pnin, are there any must-reads?

[Anonymous No.15120182]

>>15120095
If you haven't read his short story The Vane Sisters, you should- look for an acrostic!
It's been awhile since I've read PF (I've read it twice, actually). When thinking of Shade's dead daughter all that comes to mind is her playing Father Time in the school assembly, the Hawaiian bar (the gaudy lights), and the.. end of it. That the patronym 'Shade' seems to suggest ghost story, but I'll have to go back and read it again now that I'm an 'adult' and see what I'm able to see...

[Q No.15120350]

>>15120182
You should re read it I just finished reading it twice myself it’s great. The biggest evidence for the ghost story is actually the barn with all the letters which spell something out quite fascinating if you decode it. Nabokov really liked blending in science with art. He flexes the shit out of his status as a butterflyboo

[Anonymous No.15120640]

>>15120350
I will, anon. I read all his stuff except Ada when a kid; though I own a copy when having started it (at least 3x) it's always felt too Nabokovian, a parody of his own style kind of like McCarthy in Cities of the Plain- too McCarthyesque. What's your opinion there. Is it better than The Gift?

[Anonymous No.15121011]

Brian Boyd wrote an interesting book on Pale Fire that suggests Shade and Kinbote are the same person. He also talked about it in the biography he did on ol Nabby. Both VERY worth reading.

[Anonymous No.15121063]

>>15120143

There IS this one other work, I think it's called Lollypop or something. About a relationship with an age-gap.
Pretty obscure though, no one ever talks about it on here.

[Anonymous No.15121065]

And the reason the narrator portrayed Pnin as suave with his fellow emigres is to throw us off-of the scent of him (the narrator) being unreliable.

The narrator is a charater in the book. His peers are also at the party. So, he cannot write anything that would contradict their experiences of Pnin as that would call into question all of the other, unverifiable/witnessless, moments of Pnin that he writes about. So, by writing honestly about Pnin at the event where other witnesses can confirm his (the narrator's) honesty, he is allowing for the other scenes ti be treated as honest, too.

[Anonymous No.15121140]

>>15121011
PF has the dubious honor of inspiring the most retarded theories. It's honestly incredible.

[Anonymous No.15121197]

>>15121140
read it

[Anonymous No.15121217]

>>15121197
An old professor that lived in my building had a theory that the crown jewels are the stars in the big dipper (IIRC).
Like I said, all kinds of theories.

[Anonymous No.15121247]

>>15121217
read it

[Anonymous No.15121253]

>>15120143
Lolita (ya ya whoa whoa ya ya)

[Anonymous No.15121331]

>>15121247
no

[Anonymous No.15121348]

>op starts a thread about Pnin
>people reply by talking about Pale Fire instead because it's the only other Nabokov they've read since it was in Feels Runner

[Anonymous No.15121416]

>>15117524
>>15121348

Well, I've read Pnin. Can't say I enjoyed it , found way too many characters and details that didn't add to the overall story and kinda left me confused. I agree that the Russian emigre party is one of the best, and when Pnin mentions his young love that was one of the parts that truly touched me. Maybe I don't like Nabokov as a tragic comic, but if the entire book had that tone, especially with the dishwashing scene, I would've loved it. As for OP's question, I think he is confusing two characters. IIRC, the narrator wasn't the german psychologist who stole Pnin's wife, he was off in south america? I think it's another character who briefly met Pnin at several occasions, and even tried to be friendly with him before Pnin got mad? The only interaction Pnin's wife had with the narrator is reading her bad poetry, and she holding feelings for him, which he rejected. If anything I thought the narrator was his physician and somewhat sympathetic to Pnin. because at the end he attempts to work with him to keep him in department, and even desperately tries to phone him.

[Q No.15121532]

>>15120640
Haven’t read ada yet , it’s funny you Mention parody of style since he literally did a parody of not only his works but himself in “look at the harlequins”

[Anonymous No.15121628]

>>15117524
Despair is a great example of 'unreliable narrator' by Nabokov'. I love how the main character (narcissistic and overconfident man) is completely sure that his wife adores him but from his perspective we often find her half-naked with some dude who claims to be her cousine and there are absolutely zero doubts in her faithfulness from the narrattor.

[Anonymous No.15122737]

>>15121063
>>15121253
wasnt sure if it was a meme or not given that it sounds like pedo adventures