Pale Fire

by Vladimir Nabokov · 1945

Pale Fire is a 1962 novel by Vladimir Nabokov, structured as a 999-line poem titled 'Pale Fire' by the fictional poet John Shade, accompanied by a foreword, extensive commentary, and index by Shade's academic colleague, Charles Kinbote. The narrative unfolds through Kinbote's eccentric and increasingly personal annotations, which transform the work into a suspenseful whodunit, a study in one-upmanship, and a complex literary conundrum. Often cited as Nabokov's magnum opus, the novel is a seminal example of metafiction and a precursor to hypertext fiction.