TagPale Fire

Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov is a postmodern novel consisting of a 999-line poem by fictional author John Shade and a foreword, commentary, and index by Shade's neighbor and academic Charles Kinbote. Kinbote claims that Shade's poem is actually about the assassination of the exiled king of Zembla, Charles Xavier, and that he himself is the true king of Zembla. However, his commentary is often unreliable and reveals more about his own delusions and obsession with Shade's family. The novel explores themes of identity, reality, and the nature of art, and has been praised for its complex structure and wordplay.