Double, Double

Nabokov and the Verbal Mode of the Grotesque
Ralph A. Ciancio
Contemporary Literature, Vol. 18, No. 4 (Autumn, 1977), pp. 509-533
Published by: University of Wisconsin Press

"More simply stated, reality in Nabokov's fiction consists of the
letters of the alphabet variously sorted. In a sense this should not
surprise us: the axiom of Cincinnatus, "That which does not have a
name does not exist,"33 applies to all literary art if not to life. From
this premise it follows that puns and anagrams, in themselves or
crossed or "double-crossed," comprise the most fundamental of
Nabokov's stylistic devices. One might also add double-entendres
and other variants of the anagram-acrostics, palindromes, and the
spoonerism, displaced letters and syllables that have stepped aside or
leaped forwards or backwards so as to make a mishmash of our
perceptions. Kinbote rents Judge Goldsworth's house while teaching
at Wordsmith College, for instance."

This is an exerpt from an article I found in the JSTOR database that I found interesting and relevant to our discussions of Pale Fire. The more I read, re-read Nabokov, listen to our class discussions and do outside research, the more I think I am going to use the idea of doubles and/or mirroring for my term paper topic. Though, that is not set in stone, and luckily blogs have the edit feature unlike writing in stone, so I have the option to change, alter, twist, tweak or otherwise rearrange my topic.