Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov

by Ankit Srivastava

[box]Vladimir Nabokov may be known for Lolita, but Ankit Srivastava believes the writer’s Pale Fire is a better piece: a rare masterpiece that satiates the literary palate and also greases the intellectual gears.[/box]

Vladimir Nabokov was an immensely gifted writer from Russia who wrote both in his native language and his adopted language, English. He was a professor of English at Cornell, a serious chess player and a well-regarded lepidopterist. His contributions to literature are numerous, including such works as Ada, Speak Memory and his famous translation of Alexander Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin, but the one work that he is most famous for is his novel Lolita. Despite the novel’s infamous subject-matter, which continues to attract severe controversy and censure, it is worthwhile to understand that Lolita is a work of a singular literary genius. It cemented Nabokov’s position as the foremost English writer and inspired such names as John Updike, Salman Rushdie and Thomas Pynchon. But for all the greatness that Lolita is, I personally think that Nabokov produced an even better and more perfect work. Perhaps this work is not as linguistically stunning as his famous masterpiece but what it lacks in lexical dexterity, it more than makes up in its innovative structure.

Pale Fire was published in 1962 and remains an exceedingly difficult work to summarize in a few sentences. The novel is about two fictional characters, Charles Kinbote and John Shade, and is presented in the form of an annotated poem. The novel is divided into three parts, of which the central part is the poem which John Shade is supposed to have written. This poem is supposed to have been published after John Shade’s death with additional commentary by Charles Kinbote. The first part is an introduction to the poem and the last part contains elaborate notes on the poem. These two parts are supposed to have been written by Charles Kinbote. Since all of these are actually written by Nabokov, Pale Fire is the perfect example of metafiction – a work of fiction within a work of fiction.

The complexity of the novel is deeper than just the form – it pervades its entire structure. John Shade’s poem is about his own struggles in life – the suicide of his daughter, his own struggles with the concepts of after-life and spirituality. Charles Kinbote’s commentary on John Shade’s poem, however, is that of an unreliable narrator. He wants to tell the reader the story of a fantastic kingdom, Zembla, to which he belongs. He believes that the story of Zembla is one worth narrating but that he himself does not have the literary tools to do justice to a story of such magnificence. In the fictional world of Pale Fire, Charles Kinbote meets the famous poet John Shade and is convinced that John is the perfect person to tell the story of Zembla. He tries to persuade John to produce such a work and John finally does produce a poem which forms the central part of the novel. To an objective reader, the poem has nothing at all to do with the kingdom of Zembla. Charles Kinbote, however, doesn’t think so. Through his introduction and his notes to John Shade’s poem, he tries to convince us that the poem is not about John’s ruminations on his own life but is, in fact, the story that he, Charles, wants to tell. And thus emanate from the murky depths of the brilliant novel, three different stories: the story of John Shade’s own life, Charles Kinbote’s fascinating tale of Zembla and the story of how Charles met John. Since Pale Fire is being told from the point of view of a narrator whose sanity appears suspect at best, the first and last parts have to be taken with a pinch of salt. This includes not only the story of Zembla but also the relationship that John and Charles are said to have developed.

When one combines these elements one realises what a rare masterpiece this is: a novel that satiates the literary palate and also greases the intellectual gears. It is obvious that this book is not a light read but it is a work of art which comes as close to the idea of a great chess puzzle as any have. And it provides the same sense of exhilaration and the same satisfaction that one gets by solving a mate in five!

The novel is also a nutshell introduction to what Nabokov was capable of as a writer. The poem, which forms the central part of the book, is no poetic slouch. If the poem had been published just on its own, I would still have regarded it as a highly pleasurable work. It begins with these beautiful lines:

I was the shadow of a waxwing slain,

By the false azure of the window pane,

I was the smudge of ashen fluff – and I,

Lived on flew on in reflected sky.

And this idea of mirage is central to the novel. Pale Fire questions its own veracity and almost seems bent upon obliterating its own reason to exist. It pulls back, however, just before the breaking point and hovers there, trembling, shivering, and roaming in the wild, dark, no-man’s land between sanity and insanity. It is a novel which, in my opinion, stands unmatched in creativity, innovation and the mastery of form.

Ankit Srivastava is a researcher working at UCSD. He cogitates, deliberates and ruminates and inundates the poor pages at http://ankitsrivastava.net/chintan with the vague murky juices of his contemplations.

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