Pale Fire is a novel written in the form of a scholarly work: the annotated edition of the poet John Shade’s final poem, “Pale Fire.” As such, the novel consists of the text of the poem itself, plus a Foreword, Commentary, and Index written by Shade’s colleague and neighbor, Professor Charles Kinbote. As the poem’s editor, Kinbote’s job is to help readers understand Shade’s poem by providing analysis and context—a task at which he comically fails, since he devotes most of his Commentary to telling unrelated stories of King Charles the Beloved, the deposed king of Kinbote’s native country of Zembla.
Pale Fire has, in a sense, two plots: the apparent plot (which is what the delusional Kinbote tells readers has happened) and the true plot (which is what actually happened, although it takes a lot of careful reading to discern). In the novel’s apparent plot (the storyline that Kinbote earnestly believes and narrates to his readers), Kinbote and Shade are close friends and neighbors in the college town of New Wye. On their frequent nightly walks, Kinbote tells Shade true stories about King Charles of Zembla: his reign, the revolution that overthrew him, and his daring escape from Zembla. Kinbote believes that the poem that Shade is working on will be all about Zembla, incorporating these stories about Charles the Beloved. As Kinbote reveals more about King Charles, it becomes clear that Kinbote believes that he is King Charles—he is merely disguised as Charles Kinbote, a professor of Zemblan at Wordsmith College, to avoid the extremist Zemblan assassin Gradus who is trying to hunt him down.
Statistics for this Xoptio
Best literary Character 50
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50
% Not even top 100
Interesting Character 50
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50
% Not interesting
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