Pale Fire

By: Vladimir Nabokov

Narrated by: Marc Vietor, Robert Blumenfeld

A 999 line poem in heroic couplets, divided into 4 cantos, was composed - according to Nabokov's fiction - by John Francis Shade, an obsessively methodical man, during the last 20 days of his life.

©1962 Vera Nabokov and Dmitri Nabokov (P)2010 Audible, Inc

Critic reviews

"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, The New Republic)

"Of all [Nabokov's] inventions, Pale Fire is the wildest, the funniest and the most earnest. It is like nothing on God's earth." (New York Herald Tribune)

"A monstrous, witty, intricately entertaining work . . . done with dazzling skill." (Time)

elegant prose and clever humor

A masterclass in elegant prose and clever humor, a literary tour de force that continues to enchant--a rich tapestry of irony and satire, inviting readers to question the nature of authorship, reality, and madness.

Genius

Brilliant. Surprisingly audiobook friendly despite the structure of the text. Really amusing and believable voice acting.

Butterfly Frail

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

With all certainty, T am sure it will lead to greater things by Nabokov.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Pale Fire?

The reading of the Cantos Poem and the reader,s display of his great voice, all of Audible's telling of this great book is wonderful, for sure magic.

Which scene was your favorite?

There is not a particular scene of merit, Nabokov goes on and on and each momemt if studied is a thrill in each novel he creates.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I read this book very much younger, like with Lolita I could not find the pace of the information, now as my experience in the library increased, I love his writing. One must understand Nabokov, he teases one for reaction only, which he knows a studied reader will enjoy, I always laugh, hand over mouth not to insult him, but the whole experience is fully an act by both me and the writer, a very personal thing, he being the genius, of course. I love Nabokov for years, my confession to all, he never fails me!

Any additional comments?

Nabokov asks me to spend every molecule, of many, of my restless mind with a net gathering frail butterflies, as his example, in this he teaches the ways of life which are simple for complicated wanderers, like me and you.

absurdist amusing

I think the readers accent accentuated the absurdity of this story. to presents itself as a poem with notes. the poem is okay the story is the notes. there's a sense and then most nebokav that the world is not what most of us experience it is not what the narrator experiences, but that helps us in some ways to better perceive our own world

Brilliant, Touching and Fun

You have to give this book a chance. It's a little rough to get started but once you catch all the implications, it's a funny and brilliant look at academia and humanity.

I laughed out loud at a few lines and then I felt this rather sad pathos start to come over me. It's just a spoof, right? A brilliant spoof, but the book is merely satire and so we shouldn't be disturbed by it. But it is disturbing and it runs a lot deeper than spoof.

The feeling you'll experience are real.

Even the title...

Give it a chance. Buy a hard copy. Try. It's certainly one of the finest assembly of words ever.