Pale Fire

Pale Fire is a novel by Vladimir Nabokov, published in 1962.

It consists of a long poem titled 'Pale Fire' by the fictional poet John Shade, along with a foreword, lengthy commentary, and index written by Shade's neighbor and academic colleague, Charles Kinbote.

The poem is a masterpiece in heroic couplets, while Kinbote's commentary reveals his own delusional narrative, believing himself to be the exiled king of Zembla.

The novel is a brilliant parody of literary scholarship, an experimental synthesis of Nabokov’s talents for both poetry and prose, and is often cited as an example of metafiction and hypertext fiction.

It includes profound meditations on death, the afterlife, and the anguish of Kinbote’s madness, as well as the tragic story of Shade’s daughter.