Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov. Short summary

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The work is a poem composed by the fictional poet John Shade and consists of 999 terms. The comments written on it are the work of his colleague Charles Kinbot.

1 minute

The work is a poem composed by the fictional poet John Shade and consists of 999 terms. The comments written on it are the work of his colleague Charles Kinbot.

In his poem, Shade recounts his own life, his first encounters with death and the supernatural. He also reminisces about his own family and daughter Hazel, who took her own life. Later, Shade begins to seek knowledge about life after death. He harbors a faint hope that a higher power is «playing the game of worlds.» The protagonist writes poetry, which acts as a means to help him understand the universe.

Charles Kinbot writes editorials for Shade’s poem, in which he tells 3 stories. The first is the story of his friendship with Shade. When he was murdered, Charles acquired his manuscript and decided to publish the poem. He wants to let readers know that there are 1,000 lines missing from the work.