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Pale Fire has been my favorite book for a long, long time, ever since I read it as part of a course in university. After all these years I haven't read a better
by acabal 2y ago
Pale Fire has been my favorite book for a long, long time, ever since I read it as part of a course in university. After all these years I haven't read a better, more intricately-constructed book.
It was suggested to me to read the intro first, then skip the poem and read the endnotes start to finish, then to go back and read the poem. The index is part of the fiction and must also be read.
I think the keys to really enjoying Pale Fire are 1) to realize that while the subject matter is ostensibly serious, Kinbote is really a comic figure, and you're meant to be laughing a lot of the time; and 2) the great puzzles to unravel are who is John Shade, who is Charles Kinbote, are any of them even real, and who wrote the poem? The book is so beautifully written that it can be argued that none of those questions have definitive answers - and thinking about them, and how Nabokov threads clues and possibilities throughout the novel, without any of them seeming to be contradictory, is the pleasure.
- zem 2y ago> It was suggested to me to read the endnotes first, start to finish, then to go back and read the poem. I read it with two copies open, so that I was reading the poem and the endnotes in parallel.
- dbtc 2y agoThe original alt-tab is flipping between pointer fingers in a book.
- erikerikson 2y agoThe original dual screens is two copies. Seriously though, there is greater cognitive overhead in alt-tab than side-by-side
- block_dagger 2y agoThere is less muscle movement in the neck, and therefore less strain, with alt-tab.
- kijduse 2y agoJust as Charles would have wanted :)
- fsaid 2y agoShade's diminished excitement for evidence of the afterlife after meeting "Mrs.Z" was a surprisingly funny moment in the poem (even before he discovered the misprint of mountain to fountain). So much so that I wasn't sure if I was misinterpreting the poems content. But if (I thought) I mentioned that detail She’d pounce upon it as upon a fond Affinity, a sacramental bond, Uniting mystically her and me, And in a jiffy our two souls would be Brother and sister trembling on the brink Of tender incest.
- OldGuyInTheClub 2y ago"Kinbote is really a comic figure" I say this name in Christopher Lloyd's voice: "That's Kinbotay! Tay! Tay!!" In my head, of course.
- lagniappe 2y agoThe Bucket/Bouquet conundrum
- optimalsolver 2y agoAny relation to Lord Kinbote of X-files fame? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIyDJxP-b6o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIyDJxP-b6o
- OldGuyInTheClub 2y agoNever saw that show but thanks for the enjoyable clip.
- causi 2y agonone of those questions have definitive answers I will limit my criticism to saying that this is a trope adopted very often these days and it is not one to which my personality is suited. I like mysteries but I do not like treadmills, running without arriving.
- nimih 2y agoWhat do you mean by “these days?” Pale Fire was written in 1962.
- Angostura 2y agoPresumably that it is a trope widely adopted these days. It may have been more novel in 1962, but the commenter might still not enjoy it
- causi 2y agoIt seems to be more common now than it used to be. Many pieces of media, whether written or televised, seem to use it as an excuse to avoid committing to a narrative. It's as if they expect people will simply make up whatever headcanon is most entertaining and therefore the media will appeal to a greater number of people than it would otherwise. Or they've written themselves into a corner and rather than rework the plot to make sense, they simply go "Well what do youuuu think happened?" I hate it.
- OldGuyInTheClub 2y agoYou can try the Foreword and the First Canto and decide whether or not it catches your fancy.
- mhh__ 2y agoWithin popular media at least I'd argue it's the other way around, other than David Lynch and so on most things are very linear and easily solved.