Why Read? Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov - Book Summary, Analysis, Review, Theme, Meaning
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- Опубликовано: 30 сен 2024
- Welcome to the CodeX Cantina where our mission is to get more people talking about books! Let's take a Spoiler-Free attempt at describing "Pale Fire" by Vladimir Nabokov. Just referring to this as Post-Modernism really fails to capture everything this book accomplishes! It was listed in Modern Library's Top 100 Books and Larry McCaffery's Top Book of all time.
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Great content. Thanks.
I came across this book while watching Blade Runner 2049. Wanting to read it ever since. Im definitely intrigued now.
Oh yes, I've heard about that a few times! I need to get to that.
Cells within cells interlinked 🗿
You'll be disappointed. That Turing Test recitation (borrowed from the poem) used to determine who is speaking, human or android, has very little to do with the themes of the novel.
@@jamesmurrell2306 Not necessarily. Maybe they watched the video we’re commenting on and aren’t just expecting an expansion on a single line? I’m just glad when modern media directs someone to great literature; if anything the vagueness keeps the mystery alive enough to ignite interest
@@joshrobledo94 Okay, Josh ... but once-adorable innocents, like myself, happily singing every song (I'm sure my parents, in self-preservation, considered administering sedatives) that have made Disney's Pinocchio a touchstone of their childhoods --- must then be prepared for all the dark, ugly violence when they naturally pick up Collodi's original 19th-century story of what it takes to become a real boy. Years of therapy ... fear of puppets ... nightmares.
Josh, I appeal to your sense of decency --- would you blight a whole generation of 7-year-olds in order to enrich their reading experience?
OOOH! The whole structure is the book! Mind blown! Nabokov is brilliant and I must read Pale Fire soon.
It was such a trip! I hope you enjoy it if you do!
Why read Pale Fire?….because of prose like this :
His misshapen body, that gray mop of abundant hair, the yellow nails of his pudgy fingers, the bags under his lusterless eyes, were only intelligible if regarded as the waste products eliminated from his intrinsic self by the same forces of perfection which purifed and chiseled his verse. He was his own cancellation.
Officer KD6-3.7. Recite your baseline.
I couldn’t help but be jaw dropped at Nabokov’s intelligence nd talent. No writer has intimidated me more than Nabokov. Joyce sure does, but he leaves you confused and angry and you have to pump yourself to read further but Nabokov just sucks you in right away and despite of the density of the prose you feel like going on. Add to the fact that English was his second language. Hats off
Agreed on Nabakov. I have this very strange combination of feeling inadequacy but also accomplishment when I'm reading him.
Amazement at Nabokov's accomplished English gets repeated so often, that it might be germane to note that little Vladimir came from a kind of Tsarist Russian, turn-of-the-century family of immense wealth. He had a tri-lingual childhood filled with French and English nannies. His childhood was filled with as much English as any British or American child. He graduated from Cambridge in 1922.
Great video! Thanks for reminding me that I need to read more Nabokov - I think I'm also quite intimidated by him. You've made me really want to finally get to this one though.
Understandable. He's a lot as a writer and I kind of only recently have figured out how to not feel awful when reading a really challenging book!
Nabokov is a superb writer and this is indeed his masterpiece. By the way it is just "off", not "off of" which is erroneous, ugly and sounds dumb.
It is the criticism of critics. It is the accusation of the critic as liar, as kidnapper, as thief --- as self-important (perhaps, mad) reshaper of work that is not theirs. This extraordinary, brilliant, beautiful poem about death, sorrow, and the possibilities of resurrection by Shade/Nabokov stands apart from the Commentary and Index where an attempt is made to remake its meaning by an unreliable narrator with an unreliable mind.
My favorite novel! I have a first edition as a cherished possession!
Awesome
Wow . Just wow is all , like ?
It does also raise a lot of great questions about the use of paratext. How many people skip introductions or notes in the back? How does it shape our understanding? I should get back to Nabokov soon because all of his novels are WILD
Agreed. 100%
Catching up on your videos from past week since today is a holiday here and finally I get some time off from busy schedule. I am scared of reading Lolita because of all the reviews floating around. I loved this review. Now I really want to read Pale fire. I have always wondered about what a good criticism is. I believe, that if someone can pierce through the outer layer and get to the essense of what the author is saying and then extend it to identifying subtexts would be a good criticism. But what makes a great one is when someone can bring in additional dimensions to the ideas which the author himself might have not intended. Immortalising ideas is , I guess, the motivation of most artists even when some of them don't realise it themselves! PS: have tagged you in the Book Postscript Tag video.
I feel you, I'm real behind on various things and trying to enter binge mode on things I've missed out on. I'll make sure to check out the tag now that I can get to it!
I discovered this book thanks to Russell's " My Dark Vanessa " which contained a lot of references to Nabokov's work so after I finished that book I turned to this one but I'm a bit lost.. and since I watched your review of a Tolkien book yesterday and enjoyed it so much I was thrilled when I looked up pale fire on RUclips and you came up again.
Such a great book! I hope you still love it even if you feel lost at times. You're not alone there!
This has happened liek 3 times so far since I found your channel. I'll vaguely hear about a book and then bam, you have a video on it come out! You have me completely sold! Thanks for the lowdown!
Oh my! That's funny. Now if you tell me you have recently heard of Pedro Paramo or Moses, Man of the Mountain as those are the next two I have coming up, then we'll really know something is up!
@@TheCodeXCantina lol safe for now!
I read this book 4-5 years ago... I knew nothing about it going into it and audiobooked it, which, clearly an error. It went over my head, and I've always wanted to go back to it, physical copy, uninterrupted big slab of time, read it nice and slow, note pads, etc.
I think critiquing books gives us the same joy as gossiping; that makes it sound like a negative thing and I don't think that, but I think it fulfills that fundamental part of us.
I know the feeling about needing to approach a book like that! Ah interesting. I hadn't really thought about the gossip angle.
This is what I’ve been doing. I’ve dedicated 2022 to studying Pale Fire, and still haven’t finished yet (30/11/22). Lots of notes, constant research, it’s been very fun
really interesting discussion, lolita is one of my favourite books and i read pale fire at the start of january. it was definitely the most unique book ive ever read
Yeah, your vlog was great. This book is so great!
Yes yes yes yes!! Love this book and you ROCK, Una!
No, you rock!
I think you sold me on reading this book.
Ha! Well I hope you enjoy, sir!
I just read this book (in Spanish) a few months ago, shortly after I read Rayuela, and it totally blew my mind. It was one of my best readings of the year. I am excited you have Pedro Páramo coming up soon, Rulfo is one of my favorite writers. I would love to see you approaching another one of my favorites in the future, Edward P. Jones. I absolutely enjoy your content! Keep up the great work!
I hope more of Cortazar's work is translated into English! Yeah, Pale Fire was certainly a right hook. It really knocked me out. But the finishing Blow is Pedro Paramo! That book is just a masterpiece!
I am conscious even as I annotate my own copy of Pale Fire that I am immortalising myself within its pages - in some ways I am like kinbote, parasitic, latching my thoughts onto the paper - my words are who I was in that moment. I will be there forever.
😂👍
Exactly Nabokov's point in creating Kinbote as villain --- and, in speaking, in a more expansive way, of all critics and criticism. The moment we feed Pale Fire or Othello, for that matter, through the interpretive, filtering lens of our minds we've remade them.
Have you read, Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates or seen the 2008 film with Leo DiCaprio, and Kate Winslet ? If you did heard of this book are going to discuss it ?
I have neither read the book nor seen the movie.
You should read the book and watch the 2008 film very soon, and his other books like the Easter Parade. He's also has a Biography written about him by Brian Bailey, who also written literary bios about the recently deceased Phillip Roth who died in 2018 and John Cheever who wrote that short story you're now discussing The Swimmer. I have two more books I suggest reading and discuss on this RUclips Channel they're both from the NYRB of books, one is named Stoner by John Williams, and the other is The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne by Brian Moore both are in my humble opinion are literary masterpieces. Along with Revolutionary Road, also read those two books from the NYRB of books I just suggested Please! Sorry for going on and on, Have a pleasant day. @@TheCodeXCantina
Oh! A poem! This sounds amazing! 🤩
Oh it's wonderful.
Dreadfully distinct, interlinked within cells, interlinked within cells, interlinked within cells, interlinked within one stem, and dreadfully distinct, against the dark, a tall white fountain played.
The concept sounds very interesting! I've never read any Nabokov before. The concept of his most famous work Lolita has always just felt too slimy for me to read.I need to get around to it (and this story too) eventually.
It was a trip! There are some slimy elements to this one too that I failed to mention. Still learning how this review thing works 😂
I liked the short story he wrote where they put adverts on a dragon to get attention and publicity. Next level.
Um, there's this thing, strategy maybe, called "metafiction," might be worth looking into? PALE FIRE is doing that. Totally agree with your head spun take and reverential dazzle. Death, like a story, is entirely imaginary, until it isn't.
Very best, Charles "Chuck" Kinbote
😂
I'm two thirds in and I think this is one of those books that need a podcast.
I swear I read this, but none of this sounds remotely familiar. I must be getting the title confused with another of his work, but this does sound like something I would live to pick apart. Really great final thoughts on reading/literature!
I have about a 5 year window before I forget absolutely everything about a book I read :D
There is also Pnin - it also starts with a P?
My favorite work of fiction, period
I’ve definitely got to read this now. This book and Nabokov in general was heavily influential on the work of Joanna Newsom, whose albums more closely resemble literature than standard song structures, lyrically speaking.
Her album Divers specifically questions the idea of immortality in a similar way to what you described in the video. Among many many MANY other deeply philosophical themes. It’s also recursive. The last line of the final song beings the first line of the… first song. Highly recommend if you’re interested in a confluence between music and lit
That’s very cool. I hadn’t heard that. Thanks for sharing
@@TheCodeXCantina Her songs on historical figures, or just history in general, are second to none.
In her words, “Sapokanikan" is a ragtimey encomium to the forces of remembrance, forgetting, accretion, concealment, amendment, erasure, distortion, canonization, obsolescence and immortality.
I’m gonna continue to search your channel for book recommendations. RUclips is so routinely uninteresting but I appreciate you two’s channel very much. Keep on keepin on
Another of my friends is reading this one - just watched his vlog about starting it this weekend. You made this sound so good - love what you said at the end, that’s a huge boost to excitement when a book delivers in such a way!!
Oh wow, which friend? I'd love to hear about their journey
@@TheCodeXCantina Connor Stompanato - I believe the first I heard him mention it was in his Jan 12 2022 video
@@TheNerdyNarrative oh yes, I had seen that and commented 👍
But it was published...