Essay

Joan Goss
12/8/09
Dr. Sexson
Eng
The “Reality” of Gradus
Gradus. Gratus. Gratis. Jack Grey. Grey, caught between, the mix of black and white, “reality“ and fantasy, ephemeral and lasting. The Dream and The Nightmare. A man, a hunter, an assassin. A man born of fantasy, of words. Who are you? Who is this man who wears “reality” like “reality” wears its quotes like a clause? Who is the man that Vladimir Nabokov created from Pale Fire? How does he exists between the pages of that distressing novel?
We are introduced to Gradus in the Index as “Gradus, Jakob (pronounced Yakob, one presumes), 1915-1959; alias, Jack degree, de Grey, d’Argus, Vinogradus, Leningradus, etc; a Jack of small trades and a killer”(307). With the inclusion of wine, a Russian city (Leningrad), a 100 eyed giant, numerous prince/kings, a German brand of vehicle, Vladimir Ilyich, and one faithful hound one does wonder where this is going before it has even begun. This terminator-esque assassin, this Shadow wandering the world in search of his target, hunting relentlessly, always several steps behind his prey, yet relentless in his search. Such men and beasts are the stuff of nightmares. Boyd describe Gradus as a “thuggish killer for the Zemblan Extremist group the Shadows”(Boyd, 429). Perhaps he is thus, yet one finds it difficult to comprehend that such a man, such an unsuccessful assassin who has some form experience under his belt, lost a game of cards in order to do his job; one wonders at the incompetence displayed by such men. It is unreal. Ah, well, to each their own. One aught not generally hire paperboys to kill kings. Such jobs are for this of skill and experience. One after all must build up a resume.
Jakob Gradus is a man born with the first words of John Shade’s poem Pale Fire, he grows through Charles Kinbote’s commentary on Shade’s poem, and perhaps dies within it as well. Gradus, a death figure, a figure from imagination within imagination. Who is to say he is not “real,” who is to say he is not the mind behind this twisted tale?
A man born of words, as God created the world and all within it, was with God, was God… and it was good. What words went into the creation of Man, what words of Gradus? A man born from the words of man. Are not all men created thus? Something interesting. Our culture is so possessed by words they have become the center. Without words… ah, well, that’s not really what we are supposed to be discussing here is it? Yet it still has to do with this man.
But he is also born of the man we meet only with the end of this novel, this Jack Grey, Asylum escapee. Both men out for vengeance (perhaps). Born of a man already with past and present, born of words come from a mind filled with grief, born from the mind of a master who drags a twisted tangle to our attention, and born from a man who let his “real” past to rest to give himself a newer, better one. How many ways can a man be born, become “real?”
“Reality,” always quoted because it wears its quotes like a clause, like they are necessary, which Nabokov believes they are; this “reality” is so fragile it is broken within not only this novel within novels, but in our minds as well. Nabokov seems to be a master at destroying our precious “reality.” Truly the work of a genius could only do such.
Jakob is also introduced to us by Kinbote with a mere “(gradual, gray)” so very simple and introduction for so very simple a man, yet his very existence is interesting (77). “We feel doom…Never before has the inexorable advance of fate received such a sensuous form” (135-6). Verily, it much behooves that you ought feel doomed. Such men as you make this Gradus to be are not known for their ability to be turned aside.
Such fate that decided Gradus’ duty with the words of Pale Fire. Such destiny, such …coincidence. Really, Kinbote you are making it far to easy for me. If Gradus’ is so unsuccessful how did he track you down? A smart man and true king would have stayed well hidden, but no. You were found, your jewels lost, your crown is gone pitiful king. You longed for your story, your romance. A more intelligent man would have kept his head down in your position. But you stood out. With a dislike of “injustice and deception” rounded with a case of “hopeless stupidity” one wonders how Kinbote could have not gotten away scot-free from Gradus (152). Perhaps he (Gradus) is an incompetent assassin, yet he hunts arrogant prey.
Yet once again I have wandered from my path. Gradus and “reality.” Must remember.
Kinbote knows far too much of Gradus’ movements to not have made this man up from out of thin air. Yes, perhaps prediction could have lead to some basic assumptions, but to know specific details…? One believes not, especially as Kinbote has yet to show any great interest in divination. Does he “darken your pages” Kinbote, does he darken your dreams (164)? Ah, poor lad. A man made of nightmares and fantasy. Your boogey man born form your dream in reverse.
Far, far, far too many details, my dear. From his beginning to his end Gradus has been inside Kinbote’s own head, shuffling along inexorably. Perhaps it is a form of Kinbote’s own fears or nightmares. His egoism, narcissism all given their own gradual form built up over time and space as a dull little man gave up his past for a different one because he was too afraid of disappearing like a good little nobody. Psychotic breaks are something V. Botkin and Jack Grey have in common. Lord knows they have much else.
Perhaps Kinbote is projecting. Placing his own thoughts and faults into this imaginary assassin. It certainly seems so. Perhaps V. Botkin is very similar to this Jakob Gradus. Merely a thought. Two unsuccessful nobodies residing within the same story. Well, three if one counts Jack Gray.
The tin man assassin wanders and waits, as if he has nothing better to do outside his time spent in this story… which is admittedly little though his presence is felt throughout. One wonders what the choreographer thought of such a puppet. Yet, all things run a schedule.
So many details you know Kinbote, how? Did you read his mind? Or is he, as one must believe, a mere shadow of your already clouded mentality? Especially New York, you must have read the newspaper and run with your idea as to what your imaginary hunter was doing. You are so… there are not words, my dear, for you self delusions.
The convergence of space and time, comes at the end of this novel, where a mad Jack Grey and an equally mad Charles Kinbote meet. The sheer self absorption is nauseating.
This Gradus, so Terminator like, he knows only his mission, believes only in his own thoughts and his duty. To stop him one must melt him down. Yet ill-luck and indignity plague the assassin. It is ridiculous. Only a vindictive, self indulgent soul would imagine the sorts of failures and sufferings on a man, even this man. Imagine being the key word.
Kinbote does not know the form of his attacker? How silly. One means he did not know until he met Jack Grey who sought the death of the Judge Goldsworth who set him in the Institute for the Criminal Insane. Jack Grey hunted Goldsworth, Gradus hunted Kinbote and poor John Shade stuck in the middle of it all. That man had ill luck as a choke collar. It is not lacking in imagination it is merely too convenient.
At John Shade’s death, Gradus would never have “cowered on [Kinbote’s] porch step” (299). That is not the type of character/man he is even dazed by a good solid whack to the skull. That is not the man I read him as, as Kinbote has set him up as. He is cold, mistakes do not phase him. In fact, the character laid before us would not have cared at all at such a mistake. His, Gradus, only incompetence was in his aim. Jack Grey, however aimed true, so he thought. Wrong man, good aim. Though the similarities in looks between Shade and Goldsworth have been marked upon, Jack Grey is as one unaware. Kinbote’s delusions show once again.
I also doubt that Gradus would have cut his throat with a safety razor, if that is even possible. Is it? It would be damned difficult if it was, as well as slow considering the size of the blade. Blood causes slippage. Anyway, Gradus and suicide? Unlikely. Gradus was a simple man, I doubt suicide would have occurred to him. Failure is not unfamiliar, so he simple would have waited for aid or a chance to try again. Even broken the terminator still did its damnedest to try and kill Sarah Connor. So would have Gradus. Kinbote’s reasoning is more akin to what his own thoughts would have been. With his failure as V. Botkin, he started over as Kinbote. Gradus is not one to start over, even as death is an implied new beginning. He would continue. Gradus does not have the same view of shame and failure that Kinbote has.
So Kinbote waits while this Jack Grey fades out of existence; the real version of Kinbote‘s incompetent Gradus is buried or perhaps cremated to disappear as ashes on wind. He waits for “a bigger, more respectable, more competent Gradus” (301). Honestly, my dear, you had only to ask.
J. G.