Pale Fire (Cyclopedia of Literary Characters)
At a glance:
- Author: Vladimir Nabokov
- First Published: 1962
- Type of Work: Novel
- Type of Plot: Satire
- Time of Work: Late 1950’s, early 1960’s
- Setting: New Wye, Appalachia, and the kingdom of Zembla
- Genres: Long fiction, Satire, Fantasy, Metafiction
- Subjects: 1950’s, Teaching or teachers, United States or Americans, Education or educators, Poetry or poets, Writing, Assassination, Colleges or universities, Satire, Russia or Russian people, Historiography, Mirrors or lenses
- Locales: United States, New Wye (fictive), Zembla (fictive)
Characters Discussed
Charles Kinbote or Charles II, known as Charles Xavier the Beloved, the last king of Zembla. As Kinbote, he is the author of the critical notes to Pale Fire, a 999-line autobiographical poem written by John Shade. Kinbote, a visiting professor at Wordsmith University, befriends Shade, hoping to induce the poet to write a great poem about Zembla and its kings. Toward the end of the book, the reader discovers that Kinbote is the exiled king Charles Xavier, driven from his throne by revolution. Kinbote’s character develops in parallel stories, one...
[The entire page is 1027 words long]
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