Student responses to Nabokov's Pale Fire

Recently I reread Nabokov's Pale Fire for my contemporary novel class. Students were required to post responses to the novel on an online discussion board. Nabokov is my favorite author, so I was more than a little excited to read what my classmates had to say. I thought that some of the responses were particularly interesting, and I've decided to share excerpts of them here.

"Overall, this book was very difficult for me. I kept losing interest in the story because Kinbote’s commentary on the poem was completely wrong in my opinion. I felt frustrated at him for never being able to explain the poem as I saw it. I was quite surprised though in the very end (pg. 296) when Kinbote said he saw no mention of his beloved Zembla, which caught me off guard because he still interpreted the whole poem to be talking about his country."

"First of all, I don't like flashbacks. Never have. I like for my plots to move forward with as little time spent looking in the rear view mirror as possible. I read Disgrace in practically one sitting because I NEEDED to know what was going to happen next. In Pale Fire, there was no urgency. Nobody seemed to be in any immediate danger as evidenced by the fact that the protagonist was writing annotations. If there is a less suspenseful way to spend your time, I haven't heard it. [...] The other thing that I could not really get into was the whole Zembla storyline."

"The commentary, which was supposed to, I thought, break down and explain certain parts of the actual poem did the exact opposite for me; it only confused me more."

"Kinbote sexuality is certainly a major theme. His descriptions of Shade seem romantic in nature. "

"I understand the significance of what Nabakov is doing by writing commentary about a poem written by his best friend, Shade. After all Nabakov and Shade shared many stories about Zembla and the kings together, which Nabakov beleives to be highly influential in Shade's poetry. However I think the poems would have been more effective without the commentary. Shade's commentary is extremely drawn out, and flat out boring, which takes away from elements of the poem when I try to revert back to it."

"Was Shade a love interest of Charles?"

"I felt that the commentary did not meet the intended goal of helping to explain the poem, but rather took me to a world of falsehoods, a world of imaginary kingdoms and characters. While that sounds enjoyable, I did not find it so. [...] I hope that the other novels that we read this semester will not lead into a world unlike what is initially presented."

"It was truly a great book."

"Kinbote's not even very likeable; he stalks Shade while he's trying to write, doing anything he can to get a look at Shade's unfinished poem. I don't know how Shade put up with him. I hardly could."

"Kinbote didn't respect the poem nor Nabokov enough to give a commentary that would allow readers, for centuries, to appreciate the complexity of the written word, while still giving it simplicity and understanding. The poem's nine-hundred-ninety-nine line poem may be twenty pages, at most, but the commentary is somewhere between two-fifty and three hundred, yet says nothing as sincere and worthwhile as the nine-hundred-ninety-nine."

"Confused and frustrated while reading Pale Fire, I had to latch on to what little clarity I found. A passage of clarity for me was the passage about line 493: “she took her poor young life.” The explanation on the ‘proper’ modes of suicide and the consequences of attempting (and accomplishing) one’s goal of ending one’s life was strangely clear and poignant. It merges you with God, yet in many religious circles, it is the ultimate unforgivable sin. It’s ultimately a bit frightening when you find yourself re-reading this passage and convincing yourself that yes, it’s all true. You have felt this way and if it’s going to happen to anyone, they should read the “guidelines” that this book provides."