Paul Muldoon, another great contemporary poet and The New Yorker's poetry editor, had more sympathy than Chiasson for claims about the poem's stand-alone magnificence, and hit upon an apt image for the hermeneutic quandaries it poses: “I do think ‘Pale Fire' is a quite wonderful poem, though it's hard to read it as an …
Why is the book called Pale Fire?
Explanation of the title
As Nabokov pointed out himself, the title of John Shade's poem is from Shakespeare's Timon of Athens: “The moon's an arrant thief, / And her pale fire she snatches from the sun” (Act IV, scene 3), a line often taken as a metaphor about
creativity and inspiration
.
What is Pale Fire poem about?
Yes, the entire Third Canto of John Shade's four-canto poem “Pale Fire” is dedicated to
John Shade's sojourn at something called “The Institute for the Preparation for the Hereafter” where he meditates upon the possibility of communicating with the daughter he lost across the divide between life and afterlife
.
What do I need to know before reading Pale Fire?
For a first read, I would recommend
reading the Foreward, then one Cantos of the poem, followed by the commentary for that Cantos
. This allows you to first experience the poem in its unannotated form, but also keeps it fresh in your mind for the commentary.
Is Pale Fire a great poem?
Paul Muldoon, another great contemporary poet and The New Yorker's poetry editor, had more sympathy than Chiasson for claims about the poem's stand-alone magnificence, and hit upon an apt image for the hermeneutic quandaries it poses: “I do think ‘Pale Fire' is a quite wonderful poem, though it's hard to read it as an …
Is Zembla real in Pale Fire?
2)
Zembla is a real place in the world of Pale Fire
, and Kinbote is saying and doing all the things he claims, except that he is known as Vseslav Botkin, i.e., Zembla is real but “Charles Kinbote” is not on the faculty of Wordsmith. The confabulation in the commentary consists in the use of the name “Charles Kinbote.”
Who is Gradus Pale Fire?
According to Kinbote, Jakob Gradus is
one of the extremists who takes over Zembla and overthrows King Charles
, after which he tries to hunt down the exiled King and kill him. Since Shade looks a bit like Judge Goldsworth, Grey mistakes him for the judge and kills him. …
How long does it take to read Pale Fire?
The average reader will spend
5 hours and 24 minutes
reading this book at 250 WPM (words per minute).
Who killed John Shade?
But one thing seems certain: the person who shot Shade was not Jakob Gradus, a Zemblan Shadow, but
Jack Grey
, an American declared insane in a trial presided over by Judge Goldsworth, whom he thinks he is aiming for when he shoots Shade.
Was the shadow of the waxwing slain By the false azure in the windowpane?
By the false azure in the windowpane; I was the smudge of ashen fluff -and I. Lived on, flew on, in the reflected sky.
What does Zembla mean?
The word “Zembla” is derived from the Russian “zemlia,” meaning “
land
.” Zembla is the name of a “distant northern land” in Nabokov's novel Pale Fire.
What genre is pale fire?
In Pale Fire 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 and one-upmanship, and political intrigue
.
What does Stillicide mean?
1 archaic :
a continual dripping
. 2 Roman, civil, & Scots law : the servitude of eavesdrop binding a servient tenement to receive from the dominant tenement rainwater from the eaves of a building located on the latter.
What is the meaning of Emphyteusis?
Emphyteusis is
a legal contract proper, one that carries myriad rights and duties
. Emphyteusis was originally ‒ and to a certain extent is still today ‒ a contract whereby a landowner would lease a tract of land to another, in perpetuity or for a long time, in return to a low rent.
What is Laudemium?
Emphyteusis is a
contract whereby one of the contracting
parties grants to the other, in perpetuity or for a time, a tenement for a stated yearly rent or ground-rent which the latter binds himself to pay to the former, either in money or in kind, as an acknowledgement of the tenure.[1]
