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Pale Fire Study Guide

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by Vladimir Nabokov
About 68 pages (20,408 words)
Pale Fire Summary

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Pale Fire Study Guide consists of approx. 68 pages of summaries and analysis on Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov. Browse the literature study guide below:

  Plot Summary

  Chapter Summaries & Analysis

To initial appearances, Pale Fire is the final, unfinished poem by renowned poet John Shade, with a forward and commentary by fellow university instructor Charles Kinbote. However, through the commentary, this novel becomes the story Charles Kinbote longs to tell, the story of Charles X, the exiled, beloved king of Zembla. Kinbote proves himself an unreliable narrator, and the reader must attempt to discern the layers of illusive truth behind the tale. (read more)
      Forward
      Pale Fire, Canto One
      Pale Fire, Canto Two
      Pale Fire, Canto Three
      Pale Fire, Canto Four
      Commentary, Lines 1-4: I was the shadow of the waxwing slain, etc. through Line 70: the new TV
      Commentary, Line 71: parents through Line 101: No free man needs a God
      Commentary, Line 109: iridule through Line 130: I never bounced a ball or swung a bat
      Commentary, Lines 131-132: I was the shadow of the waxwing slain by feigned remoteness in the windowpane. through Line 162: With his pure tongue, etc.
      Commentary, Line 167: There was a time, etc. through Line 171: A great conspiracy
      Commentary, Line 171: books and people through Line 230: a domestic ghost
      Commentary, Line 231: How ludicrous, etc. through Line 286, A jet's pink trail above the sunset fire
      Commentary, Line 287: humming as you pack through Line 347, old barn
      Commentary, Lines 347-348: She twisted words though Line 408, a male hand
      Commentary, Line 413: a nymph came pirouetting through Lines 433-434: To the . . . sea Which we had visited in thirty-three
      Commentary, Line 469: his gun through Line 493: She took her poor young life
      Commentary, Line 501: L'if through Line 596: Points at the puddle in his basement room
      Commentary, Lines 597-608: the thoughts we should roll-call, etc. through Line 680: Lolita
      Commentary, Line 681: gloomy Russians spied through Line 691: the attack
      Commentary, Line 697: Conclusive destination through Line 830: Sybil, it is
      Commentary, Line 835-838: Now I shall spy, etc. though Line 922: held up by Our Cream
      Commentary, Line 929: Freud though Line 949: and all the time
      Commentary, Line 957: Night Rote though Line 1000: [=Line 1: I was the shadow of the waxwing slain]

  Characters

  Objects/Places

  Social Concerns/Characters

  Techniques

  Themes

  Significant Topics

  Style

  Quotes

  Topics for Discussion

  Literary Precedents

  Related Titles

  Copyright Information

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    Critical Essay by Steven Bruhm
    SOURCE: “Queer, Queer Vladimir,” in American Imago, Vol. 53, No. 4, Winter, 1996, pp. 281-306. I... more

    Critical Essay by Brian Boyd
    SOURCE: “Shade and Shape in Pale Fire,” in Nabokov Studies, Vol. 4, 1997, pp. 173-224. In the fo... more


     
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    Pale Fire from BookRags and Gale's For Students Series. ©2005-2006 Thomson Gale, a part of the Thomson Corporation. All rights reserved.



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