Nabokov: Pale Fire

Terry Lago · 16 Apr 2003, 15:56 · from urth-v0304.mbox · original

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From: "Terry Lago" <tlago at chass.utoronto.ca>
Subject: RE: (urth) Nabokov: Pale Fire
Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2003 11:56:49 -0400
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I *love* _Pale Fire_...definitely Nabokov's best...at least of what I've
read so far. I'd say the other must-read is the infamous _Lolita_. It's a
beautifully written book (even though the subject matter is rather ugly)
though it certainly has fewer puzzles than _Pale Fire_.

T.

-----Original Message-----
From: Michael Straight [mailto:straight at email.unc.edu]=20
Sent: Wednesday, April 16, 2003 11:46 AM
To: urth at urth.net
Subject: (urth) Nabokov: Pale Fire

I just finished "Pale Fire" by Nabokov.   I read it because someone said
"If you like Wolfe you'll like this," and it was mentioned a while back
when we tried to put together a reading list of books that would help you
appreciate Wolfe (search the archives for "Wolfe Library").

I think this book hit the Gene-Wolfe-Pleasure-Centers in my brain more
than any other book not written by Wolfe.  It's got the ultimate
unreliable narrator, ambiguous plot puzzles left for the reader to put
together, fun games with the text (the index is great -- I loved the bit
about the crown jewels, ghosts, and absolutely beautiful writing.  I was
also surprised that it was not a hard book to read, certainly not as hard
as some of Wolfe's.

The only drawback is it might make you more self-conscous about spinning
theories about Wolfe's stories.

Are there any other Nabokov books you would recommend for Wolfe fans (or
just for me)?

-- Rostrum

--=20

--=20

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