Pale FireA darkly comic novel of suspense, literary idolatry and one-upmanship, and political intrigue from one of the leading writers of the twentieth century, the acclaimed author of Lolita. "Half-poem, half-prose...a creation of perfect beauty, symmetry, strangeness, originality and moral truth. One of the great works of art of this century." —Mary McCarthy, New York Times bestselling author of The Group An ingeniously constructed parody of detective fiction and learned commentary, Pale Fire offers a cornucopia of deceptive pleasures, at the center of which is a 999-line poem written by the literary genius John Shade just before his death. Surrounding the poem is a foreword and commentary by the demented scholar Charles Kinbote, who interweaves adoring literary analysis with the fantastical tale of an assassin from the land of Zembla in pursuit of a deposed king. Brilliantly constructed and wildly inventive, Vladimir Nabokov's witty novel achieves that rarest of things in literature—perfect tragicomic balance. |
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Blenda blue Bretwit butterflies called Canto Charles Charles Xavier closet colored course dark dear death Disa door draft dream English Extremist eyes face Fleur French garden girl glass Goldsworth Gradus green hair hand Hazel Hazel Shade head heart Jim Coates John Shade July July 21 Kinbote kind King King's knew lane later Lavender light look ment mind minutes morning mother mountain Nabokov never nice night note to line Odon once Onhava Oswin palace Pale Fire passage picture pink play poem poet poet's poetry Popian preterist Queen reader rhyme Russian shadow side smile Solus Rex stood strange sure Sybil thing thought tion took tree turned variant verse villa Vladimir Nabokov wait walked waxwing window wonder words Wordsmith young Zemblan