Literary Fiction · ThoughtfulA 999-line poem and the commentary of a neighbor who tells a separate story of an exiled king
Pale Fire
A poem, plus a neighbor's notes that tell a different story
The book is a 999-line poem in four cantos by the poet John Shade, followed by a commentary of notes keyed to numbered lines by his neighbor and self-appointed editor, Charles Kinbote. The poem is set in the fictional college town of New Wye in 1959, while Kinbote's notes reveal a separate story about Zembla, a fictional northern land, and its deposed king. G. P. Putnam's Sons published it in 1962, and Nabokov wrote it in 1960 to 1961, after Lolita made him financially independent.
More about this book
Who
John Shade, Charles Kinbote, Hazel Shade, Gradus and King Charles II of Zembla.
World
The fictional college town of New Wye, in 1959, and the northern land of Zembla.
What makes it different
It can be read straight through or by jumping between the poem and the notes. The title comes from Shakespeare's Timon of Athens.
Feel
Puzzle-like and playful.
Page count and cover shown for: Selected edition
Further reading
- Pale FireWikipedia