In Pale Fire (1962), Nabokov offers a cornucopia of deceptive pleasures: a 999-line poem by the reclusive genius John Shade; an adoring foreword and commentary by Shade’s self-styled Boswell, Dr. Charles Kinbote; a darkly comic novel of suspense, literary idolatry, one-upmanship, and political intrigue. It is a creation of perfect beauty, symmetry, strangeness, originality and moral truth.
The author’s vehicle is ‘metafiction’ which is a self-conscious literary style in which the narrator or characters are aware that they are part of a work of fiction. Often most closely associated with postmodern prose, metafiction involves a departure from standard narrative conventions, in which a self-aware narrator infuses their perspective into the text to create a fictional work that comments on fiction. The main purpose of metafiction is to highlight the dichotomy between the real world and the fictional world of a novel. Metafiction is often used to parody literary genre conventions, subvert expectations, reveal truths, or offer a fresh view of the human condition. Please do read this.
To follow an interest in Vladimir Nabokov go to Julian W. Connolly The Cambridge Companion to Nabokov (2005, Cambridge Companions to Literature) (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Cambridge-Companion-Nabokov-Companions-Literature/dp/0521829577/ref=tmm_hrd_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1387194929&sr=8-2)
This Cambridge Companion volume offers a concise and informative introduction into the author’s fascinating creative world. Specially commissioned essays by distinguished scholars illuminate numerous facets of the writer’s legacy, from his early contributions as a poet and short-story writer to his dazzling achievements as one of the most original novelists of the twentieth century. Topics receiving fresh coverage include Nabokov’s narrative strategies, the evolution of his world-view, and his relationship to the literary and cultural currents of his day. The volume also contains valuable supplementary material such as a chronology of the writer’s life and a guide to further critical reading.
Check if this superb work is in stock at your local library by consulting the online catalogue here Home | South Lanarkshire Libraries (sllclibrary.co.uk)
Pale Fire was first published in 1962.
256 pages in Penguin Modern Classics paperback edition
ISBN 978-0141185262
Vladimir Nabokov