Book : Pale Fire - Nabokov, Vladimir

-Titulo Original : Pale Fire

-Fabricante :

Vintage

-Descripcion Original:

A darkly comic novel of suspense, literary idolatry and one-upmanship, and political intrigue from one of the leading writers of the twentieth century. Half-poem, half-prose...a creation of perfect beauty, symmetry, strangeness, originality and moral truth. One of the great works of art of this century. -Mary McCarthy, New York Times bestselling author of The Group An ingeniously constructed parody of detective fiction and learned commentary, Pale Fire offers a cornucopia of deceptive pleasures, at the center 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, Vladimir Nabokovs witty novel achieves that rarest of things in literature-perfect tragicomic balance. “Nabokov writes prose the only way it should be written, that is, ecstatically.” -John Updike, acclaimed author of the Rabbit series Review Like Lolita, Vladimir Nabokovs Pale Fire is a masterpiece that imprisons us inside the mazelike head of a mad emigre. Yet Pale Fire is more outrageously hilarious, and its narrative convolutions make the earlier book seem as straightforward as a fairy tale. Heres the plot--listen carefully! John Shade is a homebody poet in New Wye, U.S.A. He writes a 999-line poem about his life, and what may lie beyond death. This novel (and seldom has the word seemed so woefully inadequate) consists of both that poem and an extensive commentary on it by the poets crazy neighbor, Charles Kinbote. According to this deranged annotator, he had urged Shade to write about his own homeland--the northern kingdom of Zembla. It soon becomes clear that this fabulous locale may well be a figment of Kinbotes colorfully cracked, prismatic imagination. Meanwhile, he manages to twist the poem into an account of Zemblas King Charles--whom he believes himself to be--and the monarchs eventual assassination by the revolutionary Jakob Gradus. In the course of this dizzying narrative, shots are indeed fired. But its Shade who takes the hit, enabling Kinbote to steal the dead poets manuscript and set about annotating it. Is that perfectly clear? By now it should be obvious that Pale Fire is not only a whodunit but a who-wrote-it. There isnt, of course, a single solution. But Nabokovs best biographer, Brian Boyd, has come up with an ingenious suggestion: he argues that Shade is actually guiding Kinbotes mad hand from beyond the grave, nudging him into completing what hed intended to be a 1,000-line poem. Read this magical, melancholic mystery and see if you agree. --Tim Appelo Review “Nabokov writes prose the only way it should be written, that is, ecstatically.”-John Updike This centaur work, half-poem, half-prose ... is a creation of perfect beauty, symmetry, strangeness, originality and moral truth. Pretending to be a curio, it cannot disguise the fact that it is one of the great works of art of this century. -Mary McCarthy From the Inside Flap In Pale Fire Nabokov offers a cornucopia of deceptive pleasures: a 999-line poem by the reclusive genius John Shade; an adoring foreword and commentary by Shades self-styled Boswell, Dr. Charles Kinbote; a darkly comic novel of suspense, literary idolatry and one-upmanship, and political intrigue. From the Back Cover In Pale Fire Nabokov offers a cornucopia of deceptive pleasures: a 999-line poem by the reclusive genius John Shade; an adoring foreword and commentary by Shades self-styled Boswell, Dr. Charles Kinbote; a darkly comic novel of suspense, literary idolatry and one-upmanship, and political intrigue. About the Author VLADIMIR VLADIMIROVICH NABOKOV was born on April 23, 1899, in St. Petersburg, Russia. The Nabokovs were known for their high cultu