Pale Fire

'One of the greatest books I've ever read. Its heart is strange, but it is huge; let yours beat in response' MARY GAITSKILL

Pale Fire, a 999-line poem, is the final work of the celebrated - and recently murdered - American author, John Francis Shade.

Here that poem is transcribed, introduced and annotated (at length) by Shade's fellow scholar, neighbour and apparent friend, Charles Kinbote.

Approaching this task with gusto, Kinbote's annotations reveal conclusive evidence of his own impact on Shade, disguised references to the northern land of Zembla, which he may or may not have once ruled over, and fuel for his many preoccupations and paranoia.

And - as his annotations become more desperate, more deluded, more deranged - Kinbote unintentionally sheds new light on the poet's last days and the pair's 'glorious friendship'.

A murder mystery, a work of wild invention, a reimagining of what the novel can do, a piece of exquisite comedy, Pale Fire is widely regarded as Nabokov's masterpiece and one of the most brilliant novels ever written.

A W&N Essential with an introduction from Mary Gaitskill

VLADIMIR VLADIMIROVICH NABOKOV was born on 23 April 1899, in St Petersburg, Russia, the elder son of an aristocratic, cultured, politically liberal family. As a young man, he studied Slavic and romance languages at Cambridge. Between 1923 and 1940, he published novels, short stories, plays, poems and translations in the Russian language. In 1940 he, his wife and son moved to America, where he taught at Wellesley, Harvard and Cornell. His best-known novel, Lolita, brought him worldwide fame. In 1973 he was awarded the American National Medal for Literature. He died in 1977 in Montreux, Switzerland.

'A jack-in-the-box, a Faberge gem, a clockwork toy, a chess problem, an infernal machine, a trap to catch reviewers, a cat-and-mouse game, a do-it-yourself novel . . . one of the great works of art of [the 20th] century' Mary McCarthy 'Nabokov writes prose the only way it should be written, that is, ecstatically' John Updike 'Phenomenally clever and very funny' William Boyd 'The surest demonstration of his own genius . . . that remarkable tour de force' Harold Bloom I was the shadow of the waxwing slain By the false azure in the windowpane; I was the smudge of ashen fluff - and I Lived on, flew on, in the reflected sky. An ingeniously constructed parody of detective fiction and learned commentary, Pale Fire offers a cornucopia of deceptive pleasures, at the centre of which is a 999-line poem written by the literary genius John Shade just before his death. Surrounding the poem is a foreword and commentary by the demented scholar Charles Kinbote, who interweaves adoring literary analysis with the fantastical tale of an assassin from the land of Zembla in pursuit of a deposed king. Brilliantly constructed and wildly inventive, this darkly witty novel of suspense, literary one-upmanship, and political intrigue achieves that rarest of things in literature - perfect tragicomic balance. With an introduction by Mary Gaitskill A W&N Essential

This item is eligible for free returns within 30 days of delivery. See our returns policy for further details.