Disclaimers
Jun 3rd, 2010 by Simon Mahamitra Singh
Gradually I regained my usual composure. I reread Pale Fire more carefully. I liked it better when expecting less. And what was that? What was that dim distant music, those vestiges of color in the air? Here and there I discovered in it and in the invaluable variants, echoes and spangles of my mind, a long ripplewake of my glory.
Vladimir Nabokov, Commentary on Pale Fire
Despise me not,
And be not queasy
To praise somewhat:
Verse is not easy.
J. V. Cunningham, For My Contemporaries
Verse is not easy. Please be mindful of this in your judgments and posted comments about The Hayfield, along with maintaining a healthy respect for its recently deceased poet. And since Demod Smith has passed on, we will pass on any legal disclaimers as to him. However, as you can imagine, the other characters found on Dr. Scattergood’s websites present thornier issues that can’t be avoided. Arnie the hay farmer, for example, is soon revealed as a broken-hearted physicist, but ultimately he’s a fictional character in a poem about physics, love, literature, and the environment. It is debatable whether Dr. Odie Leucas, Dr. Catherine Shockley or even any of the investigators or prosecutors chasing Mr. Scattergood are real people. Or any others who will study or commentate or litigate over Arnie’s character between now and July 2010.
My position in this debate is as follows: This website and rest of my client’s websites are works of fiction. Names, characters, places, incidents, involvement by UCLA, photographs, constellations, insects, and beer brands are the products of the authors’ minds or are used fictitiously. Even when Arnie utters Sarah’s name during the last lines of Part 4 of The Hayfield, both Arnie and Sarah remain fictional. Even the characters Barbara Greenstein, Alex Rhoades, and Gary Rhoades, who have made wild claims in the press of controlling everything herein like some Shakespearean trio sharing Prospero’s powers, are three fictional spirits who will soon melt into thin air.
Finally, any resemblence to actual persons, living or dead, is coincidental, but coincidentally the living and the dead are both encouraged to check out the new Posthumous Vanity Publishing services at www.ForeverPrized.com. If someone’s dying to get published, then Dr. Scattergood is trying to get them.
Simon M. Singh, Attorney for Dr. Scattergood
