Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0012215, Wed, 14 Dec 2005 17:47:23 -0800

Subject
Re: Fwd: The Pale Fire poem
Date
Body
It is fascinating to read the discussion about Pale
Fire.

I have a question - is it correct to judge Pale Fire
poem as it is without context of the whole book?
I feel that the main artistic issue of the book - its
construction and how all the elements work together.
How "non artistic realities" as, say, Preface and
Intdex can be transformed into aesthetic phenomena.
All the parts are so well balanced.
The poem itself works perfect in the novel. I am sure
Nabokov would have come up with better rhyming pattern
(and Brian Boyed showed those "weak ones") , but it is
quite possible that it was not Nabokov's purpose.
The poem is written by John Shade and not Nabokov. The
novel Pale Fire is written by Nabokov.

Best, Vladimir Mylnikov

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