On Zembla

Having just finished reading the actual poem "Pale Fire," I was surprised to find on line 937 an actual reference to Zembla. It was, of course, only one reference, and I found it even more amusing that he mentions the one thing that Kinbote wants him to talk about most of all in an aside almost while he is talking about shaving. This struck my interest and I had to skim through the commentary if for no other purpose than to see how Kinbote handled the mentioning of his beloved Zembla in such an offhand sort of way. As I suspected, there is a note. It recounts Kinbote's reading of the notecard that possesses this line and the asside that Shade had written to that line the day before he died. Kinbote writes of his sadness at this point, but it is not for his friend who was lost so recently after writing this small piece. NO, it is for the fact that such a small piece alone was reserved for his precious Zembla.