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Don't be terrified of Pale Fire

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Re: Don't be terrified of Pale Fire

#41

Post by BeFlatXIII »

vundercind wrote: post #39
Tycho wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Other books I know of that play with part or all of the text itself being an artifact of the fiction: - The Third Policeman , Flann O’Brian. Fictional scholar of a fictional esoteric philosopher weaves his commentary on same philosopher into an account of his… journey. - If on a Winter’s Night a Traveler , Italo Calvino. You(!) embark on an adventure to find the book you believed you purchased, which was If on a Wint…

_House of Leaves_, Mark Danielewski. This one has at least two layers of meta story. The body of the text is a long-form analysis written by a blind man of a fictional film. The extensive footnotes are of the guy who found the manuscript after the blind man died.

Re: Don't be terrified of Pale Fire

#42

Post by vundercind »

haroldp wrote: post #10

If you are going to read Pale Fire, get it on paper. I tried to read it on my Kindle and the UI is not up to task of lots of flipping back and forth between the poem and the prose sections.

When I tell people the UI of paper books is in most ways superior to ebook readers, this is the kind of thing I mean.

They do take up a shitload less space, which is a pretty big advantage, though.

Re: Don't be terrified of Pale Fire

#43

Post by vundercind »

glial wrote: post #17

I 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…

Faulkner. Woolf, though more in some books than others.

Re: Don't be terrified of Pale Fire

#44

Post by Boogie_Man »

"I am the shadow of the waxwing slain

By the false azure in the windowpane

I am the smudge of ashen fluff

And I lived on, flew on, in the reflected sky"

I am ashamed that I will never command my native language as well as a man for whom it was a second. I don't even know if whom is right there.

Re: Don't be terrified of Pale Fire

#45

Post by CydeWeys »

gizmo wrote: post #32

When people recommend Russian literature I'm always curious what they think about the other great Russian literary works. Because I find unnecessary complexity unbearable. I have no desire to read literature with 100+ named characters, unreliable narrators and Escher-like chronology. For some people narrative complexity is a draw but if I can't put a book down and come back to it two weeks later without having to sta…

Admittedly The Brothers Karamazov has a lot of characters, but, it does run linearly! And it's not so hard to refer to the Wikipedia article for a character list as necessary.

I think the problem is some people expect to not have to do any work when reading literary novels.

Re: Don't be terrified of Pale Fire

#47

Post by razadots »

I love Nabokov. In fact, I named a stray cat after him who has since abandoned me. Or I, him. If you want a more approachable book of his to start off (pale fire is tremendous but daunting) I would recommend Laughter in the Dark. It is short and moves effortlessly. The characters are charming and evil. The plot reads like a suspense thriller. It is a wicked, wicked delightfully wicked book.

Anyways, if you've seen my cat please feed him.

Re: Don't be terrified of Pale Fire

#48

Post by xwiz »

bazoom42 wrote: post #24
gwbas1c wrote: post #15

Is 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.

Wow, sounds tailor made for me. I'm part way through GEB, and I have a Borges collection arriving tomorrow.

Re: Don't be terrified of Pale Fire

#49

Post by OldGuyInTheClub »

Boogie_Man wrote: post #44

"I am the shadow of the waxwing slain By the false azure in the windowpane I am the smudge of ashen fluff And I lived on, flew on, in the reflected sky" I am ashamed that I will never command my native language as well as a man for whom it was a second. I don't even know if whom is right there.

I think it was his third after Russian and French.

I liked "The svelte stilettos of a frozen stillicide" and

"How to locate in blackness, with a gasp,

Terra the Fair, an orbicle of jasp."

Re: Don't be terrified of Pale Fire

#50

Post by oraknabo »

gizmo wrote: post #32

When people recommend Russian literature I'm always curious what they think about the other great Russian literary works. Because I find unnecessary complexity unbearable. I have no desire to read literature with 100+ named characters, unreliable narrators and Escher-like chronology. For some people narrative complexity is a draw but if I can't put a book down and come back to it two weeks later without having to sta…

You could maybe tie Nabakov's humor to Gogol or Bulgakov, but he doesn't tell complex stories like Tolstoy or the longer Dostoevsky books. Maybe Pale Fire is like Notes from the Underground or Crime & Punishment in a way, but his work isn't really traditional Russian Lit. Nabakov's got as much in common with Joyce & Pynchon as any Russian writers.
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