The Puzzle of Pale Fire
Of all the complexities and mysteries of the novel Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov, the one question that has been most argued, dissected and torn apart is to whom the authorship of the poem and commentary truly belongs. Books and commentaries have been written about it, magazines have been devoted to it (Nabokov Studies), and web pages (NABOKV-L) have been built around uncovering the mysteries of this book (the ones that are mentioned have been analyzed in preparation for this essay). Nabokov loved to compare the relationship between author and reader of a novel (especially one of his novels) to the creator of chess problems and the individual that would figure them out (Shade and Shape in Pale Fire, Boyd, Brian. Nobokov Studies #4, 1997). Therefore, it is clear that Nabokov’s purpose in writing the novel in the manner he did was to begin an endless debate over who wrote the text, while providing enough evidence to support many different theories.
The most obvious theory is the one in which the novel can be taken at face value. In this explanation, Charles Kinbote is the author of the foreward and the commentary while John Shade, his neighbor, is the writer of the poem, Pale Fire. Here, Charles Kinbote somehow expected John Shade to write a poem about Zembla, a distant almost mystical land of which Kinbote seems knows the most intimate details. Shade begins to write a poem and works on it steadily for some time as Kinbote practically salivates waiting for its completion. When the anxious neighbor finally gets to read it, he finds that it is not a poem about his beloved country, but is an autobiographical work, a harmonious organization of words where Shade has tried to find peace in the things that have happened to him in his past. Before the last line is written, Shade comes out to comfort a distressed Kinbote, and is shot when Jack Grey accidently assassinates the wrong man. Kinbote then takes the manuscript and, utilizing the format of a scholarly analysis, he desperately tries to manipulate Shade’s poem to become the work that he originally desired. When he is finished, he has it published and possibly commits suicide. This is taken from the last lines of the commentary which state: “Yes, better stop. My notes and self are petering out (p 300).” Though this is a simple and easy explanation, to many readers it does not quite add up. There are a plethora of hints, some rather minute, others more obvious, that force the reader to question the simplicity of the digesis.
Another possibility is that John Shade faked his own death and wrote the entire manuscript himself, including the foreward, commentary, and index. According to this hypothesis, he would have had to invent Kinbote as well as pretend to be the strange, homosexual neighbor while writing the work. This dubious theory is contradicted on many sides. To begin with, the manner in which he wrote the poem is controlled, measured, precise and well-written. The foreward and commentary, on the other hand, are erratic, uncontrolled, and he often interrupts his thoughts with odd or irrelevant ideas. For example, on the very first page of the novel, Kinbote disrupts his account of John Shade’s documentation of the poem by stating, “There is a very loud amusement park right in front of my present lodgings (p.13).” Shade is also excellent at rhyming, something in which the supposed Kinbote claims to have little talent. In order for Shade to have pulled this off, he would have had to pretend to be the mirror image of himself while “being” Kinbote. He would have been “exile rather than stay-at-home, lonely homosexual rather than happily married man, vegetarian rather than meat-eater, bearded rather than clean-shaven, left- rather than right-handed, and so on…(Boyd, Brian pgs. 6-7)” In this way it seems almost possible for this theory to be true since Kinbote is such a direct caricature of the exact opposite of Shade, but in every other matter it seems a bit far fetched. To top it off, the Russian language is used a little by Kinbote, who has extensive Russian background (assuming that he is also Botkin “of Russian decent (Pale Fire Index),” while nothing is said of John Shade ever knowing any Russian or even being connected with the language or culture in any way. Another flaw in this outlook is that the nature of Shade is to be organized and measured, with rhyming couplets throughout his poem. If he is truly the author of the entire book, it is highly improbable that he would leave his poem incomplete with just one more line to go. It would defy his nature of neatness and completely override the peace that he is striving to obtain by the end of the poem. Overall, this theory remains just that; a very shaky theory that is in no way proven one way or the other.
Another theory is the synopsis where Kinbote created the entire work. As he is under the apparent delusion that he is the king of Zembla, the great Charles the Second, it is possible for him to convince himself that he is a completely different person while he is writing the poem. Or, he is also very practiced in the art of deception and could definitely be conniving enough to try to pull the “shade” over peoples’ eyes by pretending someone else wrote it; thereby, receiving greater verification that Zembla and the whole culture it represents really exists. Some problems with this are that he says himself that he is a miserable failure at writing poetry; which is why he wanted Shade to write the poem about Zembla in the first place. If he had truly done the whole book, he likely would have made it so it was not such a far stretch between the reality of the poem and the Zembla story. He admitted that he was surprised when he read the poem and really despaired over its lack of Zembla-ism. When he read it he “…sped through it, snarling, as a furious young heir through an old deceiver’s testament (p. 296).” He also added his definitely homosexual themes (such as on page 127), which Shade would never have done and could never have meant when he wrote the poem, especially since much of the poem involves Sybil, Shade’s beloved wife.
Kinbote may also have been under the influence of the dead Shade. This is possible to ascertain in the sudden calm (a trait of John Shade) that overcomes Kinbote in the commentary when he is writing about Jakob Gradus. The kind nature of John Shade was very evident during his life. He was nice to his very eccentric neighbor who spoke of strange places of which he had never before heard (and very well may not have existed). It can even be seen in how he left his poem at the very point of possible completion to assist the distressed Kinbote. Why then would it be impossible for him to continue this kindness after he had died?
Overall, there are many theories as to the identity of the internal author of Pale Fire. Some believe that Shade created Kinbote, or Kinbote created Shade, or that they somehow created each other. After all is considered, however, it all comes down to the actual author, Vladimir Nabokov, and his excellent organization and attention to detail to produce such a captivating novel that leaves so many mysteries unsolved.