Discoveries

Shatranj is an old form of chess that originally came from India. The games (both the modernized, western version and the original) are games of royalty; since Kinbote is royalty, it makes sense that he would identify with this game. The original shatranj utilized the same pieces and was played on a board of the same size (8X8). The names of the pieces are Persian, with some Arabic influence. What we know today as the bishop was called 'pil' (Persian for 'elephant'). The Arabic word for 'the' is 'al,' and was sometimes attached as a prefix, with the p changing to f - 'alfil.' When shatranj was first introduced to the western world, Europeans altered the name slightly to 'alfin,' which happens to be the name of Kinbote's father and the former king of Zembla. It makes sense that in Kinbote's narcissistic imagination, he has his father be not the king or even the queen in his royal game of chess, but the bishop - a person of power and importance, but not the biggest fish in the sea. Kinbote, in his narcissism, saves that position for himself in his fantasy world.

The name Mandevil keeps popping up as some mysterious noble family from Zembla. We are introduced to Baron Mandevil when the King is fleeing his country and sees what appears to be an old woman knitting on the beach. Odon informs the King that it is actually "Baron Mandevil--chap who had that duel last year" (147). Apparently in this duel the Baron was disfigured and now resembles an old woman. Kinbote mentions the name 3 pages later when trying to describe Gradus' appearance. He says that Gradus' "grotesque figure... was not much odder than... a mad Mandevil who had lost a leg in trying to make anti-matter." Again, the Mandevil being described is deformed. There is also a Mandevil Forest that is mentioned on page 139 when Kinbote and his friends go for a drive. When they reach the edge of Mandevil Forest, "thunder rumble[s] in the terrible brown sky." I didn't think much about the odd name (which is probably pronounced with a stressed first syllable, but I can't help pronouncing it 'Man-devil') until I read Kinbote's opinion of demons on page 226. He tells Shade, "goetic magic does not always work. The demons in their prismatic malice betray the agreement between us and them, and we are again in the chaos of chance." (According to Wikipedia, Goetia "refers to a practice which includes the invocation of angels or the evocation of demons.") In other words, a human denies God and calls upon a demon to serve him so that he can control what goes on around him, but the demon is a colorful character and does not keep his word, so the human has no control and his destiny is left to chance - which, as Kinbote states on the previous page, is dreadful because Chance denies the existence of God. This passage reminded me of the Mandevil family and the Mandevil Forest, so I went back and looked at the passages where the name occurs. On pages 147 and 150, the men with the last name of Mandevil are both mishapen - they look like something that they are not. Demons are known to take the form of something other than a demon when called upon by a human (as in goetic magic). On page 139, thunder rumbles when Mandevil Forest is mentioned. In literature, the sound of thunder is often used to show that God is angry with humans. Using goetic magic - which itself denies God and also necessarily ends in the "chaos of chance" (which is another, more roundabout way of denying God) - would certainly anger God and result in rumbling thunder. So perhaps it is more than coincidence that the name Mandevil is spelled "Man-devil." Maybe the Mandevil family is comprised of demons.

At the bottom of page 83, Kinbote is looking at the "morocco-bound album in which the judge had lovingly pasted the life histories and pictures of people he had sent to prison..." The Morocco binding is a special kind of binding and covering for books that is made of leather and known for its high cost, aesthetic appeal, and durability. On the cover of the book is what appears to be a picture of a match with a leather frame. I take liberties in calling the 'picture' Moroccan-bound. I did spend some time closely examining (both figuratively and literally) this black border, and realized that the "picture" is in fact a mirror (the edges of it where it touches the leather was my clue). Moving beyond what we've already discussed in class about mirrors in the book, I discovered that the idea of the mirror reflecting a match and words rather than my own face is similar to the mirror in Velasquez's painting, which reflects something that is not seen by the viewer. I also noticed that, because of the angles of the shadows of the leather border onto the grey page and the leather border onto the purple reflection, the mirror must be inlaid from the leather. The light is coming from some source not seen on the cover - just as the light source in Velasquez's painting is unseen to the viewer - just off the top left corner.

*Several hours after the discovery of the mirror on the cover, I went back to looking at the match itself. With the title Pale Fire, one might think that a match on the cover would be lit (perhaps with a small flame), producing a pale fire. Smoke, while pale, is after all not actually fire. I did decide, however, that the color of the smoke from the match is similar to the color of the moon. There are plenty of references throughout the novel to the moon, its luminescence, and its reflection of the sun. On page 105, Fifalda and Fleur wear earrings that "catch and lose the fire of the sun," just as the moon catches and loses the fire of the sun every night. On page 108, Kinbote further describes Fleur as having a "pale face" with "luminous eyes and... dark hair." The pale face and luminous eyes surrounded by dark hair are like the moon surrounded by the dark night. On page 111, Kinbote talks of waking in the night and, in an attempt to get her to put clothes on, would pour water "onto Fleur's naked shoulder so as to extinguish upon it the weak gleam of a moonbeam." The word "extinguish" obviously relates to the cover of the book - the flame of the match has been extinguished so it emits smoke rather than fire. The phrase "the weak gleam of a moonbeam" is yet another reference to the moon's reflection of the sun. These three quotes all have to do with Fleur, but I keep finding more and more as I read. The repetition of the moon and references to it all draw attention to the fact that the moon is a reflection of the light from the sun - or rather, the moon is the smoke of the fire that is the sun. The moon relates to the smoke that is on the cover of the book, which is a reflection in a mirror. So maybe the actual, physical match that we cannot see is alight with flame, and its reflection is merely the "pale light" (227) that we see as smoke.