[flagged]
I think editors are just extinct. Or spell checked from reframed or something. Or our English just isn't up to snuff.
Don't be terrified of Pale Fire
21–30 of 166 posts
Re: Don't be terrified of Pale Fire
#22Is this a "Bookworm's book?" Much like a "skier's mountain" or a "band's band," is this the kind of book that only appeals to a narrow audience that likes to pick apart the mechanics of a book? Or is this a book like Harry Potter, which was panned by the critics, but otherwise is awesome popular fiction?
The 'hook' of Pale Fire is this: ostensibly you're reading a long-form poem with a foreword and footnotes and editing by a friend of the poet (a poet of some eminence), but it soon becomes apparent that the editor is trying to jam his own life story into those footnotes.
If you like that idea, I think you'd like the book.
Re: Don't be terrified of Pale Fire
#23Is this a "Bookworm's book?" Much like a "skier's mountain" or a "band's band," is this the kind of book that only appeals to a narrow audience that likes to pick apart the mechanics of a book? Or is this a book like Harry Potter, which was panned by the critics, but otherwise is awesome popular fiction?
> otherwise is awesome popular fiction
It could be described as many things, but popular fiction it will never be.
Re: Don't be terrified of Pale Fire
#24Is this a "Bookworm's book?" Much like a "skier's mountain" or a "band's band," is this the kind of book that only appeals to a narrow audience that likes to pick apart the mechanics of a book? Or is this a book like Harry Potter, which was panned by the critics, but otherwise is awesome popular fiction?
It is an elaborate joke on works with lots of footnotes and editorial commentary. If you are familiar with this kind of text you migt enjoy it. Otherwise it will probably fall flat.
If you like Borges or Gödel, Escher, Bach you will enjoy this.
Re: Don't be terrified of Pale Fire
#25[flagged]
In music, a refrain is a passage that we return to rather than continuing to progress the song. When we hear refrain as a verb, the metaphor tends to focus on the "abstaining from something else" aspect, but here she's focusing on the "repeated passage" aspect. It's not a common use but it basically works.
Re: Don't be terrified of Pale Fire
#26Pale Fire has been my favorite book for a long, long time, ever since I read it as part of a course in university. After all these years I haven't read a better, more intricately-constructed book. It was suggested to me to read the intro first, then skip the poem and read the endnotes start to finish, then to go back and read the poem. The index is part of the fiction and must also be read. I think the keys to really…
Shade's diminished excitement for evidence of the afterlife after meeting "Mrs.Z" was a surprisingly funny moment in the poem (even before he discovered the misprint of mountain to fountain). So much so that I wasn't sure if I was misinterpreting the poems content.
But if (I thought) I mentioned that detail
She’d pounce upon it as upon a fond
Affinity, a sacramental bond,
Uniting mystically her and me,
And in a jiffy our two souls would be
Brother and sister trembling on the brink
Of tender incest.Re: Don't be terrified of Pale Fire
#27I have not yet read Pale Fire, but I loved Lolita and hope to read it soon. Nabokov's writing is so rich, the writing itself (aside from the story!) is worth lingering over and savoring. I've only found a few other writers with a similar quality - Proust, Milton, perhaps Cormac McCarthy and Toni Morrison. Does anyone know of authors with a similar property? I'm not even sure what to call it, so it's difficult to sear…
East of Eden by John Steinbeck is at the top of my list for pure literary beauty (and I also love most of the authors you mentioned)
Re: Don't be terrified of Pale Fire
#28Is this a "Bookworm's book?" Much like a "skier's mountain" or a "band's band," is this the kind of book that only appeals to a narrow audience that likes to pick apart the mechanics of a book? Or is this a book like Harry Potter, which was panned by the critics, but otherwise is awesome popular fiction?
> otherwise is awesome popular fiction It could be described as many things, but popular fiction it will never be.
It is popular and it is fiction, how can you say Harry Potter will never be that?
Re: Don't be terrified of Pale Fire
#29Is this a "Bookworm's book?" Much like a "skier's mountain" or a "band's band," is this the kind of book that only appeals to a narrow audience that likes to pick apart the mechanics of a book? Or is this a book like Harry Potter, which was panned by the critics, but otherwise is awesome popular fiction?
Judging by the commentary in the thread, it's very likely not the Harry Potter case :D
It sounds like the best analogy to the book are abstract paintings. There are people who can appreciate them, but it is an acquired taste...
Re: Don't be terrified of Pale Fire
#30Interesting: The connection between Pale Fire and hypertext was stated soon after its publication; in 1969, the information-technology researcher Ted Nelson obtained permission from the novel's publishers to use it for a hypertext demonstration at Brown University. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pale_Fire