From the Bookshelf of Nabokov in Three Years…

Pale Fire

Vladimir Nabokov

Start date: April 1, 2013

Finish date: April 30, 2013

Discussion: Pale Fire

Discussion leader: Jason Lundberg

Find A Copy At

Group Discussions About This Book

No topics in Pale Fire yet. Start one now »

What Members Thought

Apr 13, 2014 Publius rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: nabokov, five-star-books, novels, re-read, american

Heralded as Nabokov's second greatest work (only after Lolita), earning a spot on the MLA's list of Top-100 English Language Novels and called "Nabokov's most perfect novel" by his authoritative biographer Brian Boyd, Pale Fire definitely carried quite a reputation as I initially opened the pages of the book. And it didn't disappoint. Pale Fire recounts the tale of a brilliant American poet, John Shade, who was shot and killed before he could finish the final line of his 1,000 line poem. His "su Heralded as Nabokov's second greatest work (only after Lolita), earning a spot on the MLA's list of Top-100 English Language Novels and called "Nabokov's most perfect novel" by his authoritative biographer Brian Boyd, Pale Fire definitely carried quite a reputation as I initially opened the pages of the book. And it didn't disappoint. Pale Fire recounts the tale of a brilliant American poet, John Shade, who was shot and killed before he could finish the final line of his 1,000 line poem. His "supposedly" close friend and neighbour, Charles Kinbote then obtains the manuscript and undertakes the effort into publishing the poem, including a Foreword and Commentary. It is clear within ~10 pages of the commentary that Kinbote has no idea what Shade is actually talking about in his poem, and is merely drawing crazy, wild interpretation with no textual basis, and more importantly, is instead telling his own story instead of Shade's. Upon the close of the book, the reader is left with three main interpretations:

1) Kinbote is telling the truth (he is merely a little stupid but still good-natured) and he really does care about Shade, trying to publish his work to the best of his abilities ---> This is the least likely possibility

2) Kinbote is actually the assassin who killed Shade (Gradus) and is trying to steal and alter Shade's work.

3) Kinbote is a madman and none of what is he saying (Zembla, King Charles) actually exists - it's all in his head.

Pale Fire is Nabokov parodying himself, as he attempted to translate and annotate Pushkin's Eugene Onegin. Nabokov's commentary ends up being much, much longer than Pushkin's work itself and includes many, often irrelevant details about himself. Furthermore, I strongly suspect that Nabokov drew inspiration from Pushkin's play Mozart and Salieri (which the 1980's movie Amadeus is somewhat based on). Just like Pushkin's play, Pale Fire involves a jealous rival who possibly kills and attempts to steal the work of his more talented peer (Mozart's Requiem).

Pale Fire is a novel that has to be read very slowly and methodically and preferably twice to be fully appreciated. I was initially bewildered by the style and unique narrative structure but began to love it more and more as I went on. I think if I read it again, I might even score it higher, as one reading doesn't really do this difficult work justice. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Nov 16, 2008 Lara Biyuts rated it it was amazing

Greatest novel. My favorite.

1 like · Like · see review

Sep 16, 2008 nnnnnaaaaa rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: vn

I've read this book several times before, but this time was the first line by line careful reading, and I enjoyed it very much.
Although it looks obvious that Kinbote is a deluded person and Zembla may not exist in the real world (of PF), you can't tell. All his description of this country is so colorful and vivid (although a bit like a fairly tale), it could be real. Real in what sense, I am not sure, though...
But Kinbote is a very cold person as well. How he reacts to Shade's death and what he ...more

Like · see review