Character Analysis
VN is way more than just an unreliable narrator. He's a sketchy narrator. It's probably not one of the normal narrator types, but there's no other way to describe this guy. He just kind of gives us the heebie-jeebies.
Friend?
Okay, at first it's not so bad. When we first figure out that VN is not just some kind of narrator device and is actually a person telling us the story, he tries to pass himself off as Pnin's friend. He says that he helps Pnin writes his lectures and he knows about his heart condition, so it would seem that they are pretty close.
Even Pnin sort of admits that they are friends. Here's his exchange with Dr. Hagen:
'Now, don't take it too hard, Timofey. I'm sure your old friend—' 'Who is old friend?' queried Pnin, slitting his eyes. Hagen named the fascinating lecturer. Leaning forward, his elbows propped on his knees, clasping and unclasping his hands, Pnin said: 'Yes, I know him thirty years or more. We are friends, but there is one thing perfectly certain. I will never work under him.' (6.12.20)
So that's that. And let's add some math to the equation: if Pnin is 52, they have known each other since he was in his 20s. That's a long time. But if you knew a guy for that long, wouldn't you have no problem working with him?
So that brings us to the next aspect of this VN guy.
Or Foe?
VN claims that he is Pnin's friend, and Pnin seems to acknowledge this, but there's something weird going on. If you knew somebody for 30 years, and someone else mentioned your "old friend," would you have to ask whom they meant? And why would you refuse to work for them?
Things get weirder when you think about some of the strange things that VN says about Pnin. For example, what kind of good friend wishes harm on their friends? He says: "Some people—and I am one of them—hate happy ends. We feel cheated. Harm is the norm. [...] Had I been reading about this mild old man, instead of writing about him, I would have preferred him to discover, upon his arrival to Cremona, that his lecture was not this Friday but the next" (1.3.1).
Sure, he says that this is only the case if he were reading about him and not writing about him, but we're still suspicious. Besides, if he's writing the whole thing, doesn't he write Pnin out of a job?
Then there is his constant ragging on poor Pnin. It seems like the narrator takes every single opportunity he can to remind us how graceless, awkward, and ugly Pnin is. He says:
It warmed my heart, the Russian-intelligentski way he had of getting into his overcoat: his inclined head would demonstrate its ideal baldness, and his large, Duchess of Wonderland chin would firmly press against the crossed ends of his green muffler to hold it in place on his chest while, with a jerk of his broad shoulders, he contrived to get into both armholes at once; another heave and the coat was on. (3.2.3)
Oh, and did we mention how sarcastic he was? Seriously though, is it necessary to tell us about Pnin's "ideal baldness," and "Duchess of Wonderland chin?" Sure, he says it "warms his heart," but still. We don't think so.
With friends like that who needs enemies?
Liar Liar, Pants on Fire
Things start to get pretty trippy towards the end of the novel when we realize that it's probably not just a terrible friend who has likely been lying this whole time. There are lots of little clues that could tip you off, like the narrator knowing things that he shouldn't have known, or historical facts suddenly changing. But the biggest thing is when Pnin calls VN out.
Pnin says: "Now, don't believe a word he says, Georgiy Aramovich. He makes up everything. He once invented that we were schoolmates in Russia and cribbed at examinations. He is a dreadful inventor (on uzhasniy vidumshchik)" (7.4.2). Now, what are we supposed to make of that? If our narrator makes up everything, couldn't he have been lying to us this whole time? What is the truth, and what's fiction?
Who knows? We sure don't.
VN's Timeline