One of the most interesting works of fiction I've ever encountered, Boyd offers a controversial theory of what is behind the plot. What is uncontroversial is that Boyd is an insightful, close reader. I finally read Nabokov's "Ada" about a year ago, and I look forward to re-reading "Ada" with Boyd's book about Ada at hand.

Boyd is such an astute reader that this book of criticism and analysis is disheartening for me. Disheartening until I realize that he has been reading Nabokov, stalking Nabokov for a decade longer than I have lived. The amount of energy that he has expended in his devotion is apparent here. He loving charts a circumlatory path the through the book. As he does the book unfolds in ways that I would have never experienced on my own. It is invaluable in this regard. As a result of this book I have enjoyed Pale Fire more than probably any other book. It shows what is possible when one lovingly devotes them self to a great work of art. The effort that one puts into this book is transmuted and returned to the reader.

Review to follow next week.

I was electrified at the beginning, but got a little uneasy in the middle, even thinking more than once that we were verging on DMT trip monologue, or Charlie Day With Red Yarn Connecting Photographs territory. But Boyd always won me back and the end is pretty glorious, revealing him to be tripping on a pure, powerful love of close reading. I want to live in a universe where every author has a fan this dedicated.

A must-read for those who love Pale Fire. I was not particularly persuaded by the argument he makes in the second half, but extremely well done nonetheless.

Good, especially the reading and rereading sections but beyond that it somewhat becomes too specific, and a little unnecessary, whereas the earlier sections elucidate and encourage rereadings/rethinkings, the latter ones come across as "look at all the lines I can draw between things".

Worth reading, just not all the way to the very end (unlike Pale Fire and its mysterious index)

All my favorite authors are doing everything in their power to make me believe in god and /or ghosts. Pale Fire after Brothers Karamazov after Spinoza’s Ethics…. They know the way to get me

Just read half of this as a companion to "Pale Fire." It was definitely a great place to start for unraveling the mysteries in "Pale Fire." At some point, the book got to be a little too English-majory for me... e.g. "Did the ghost of John Shade inspire Kinbote to write his Commentary?" But the beginning is well worth reading for understanding what's really going on in PF.

Boyd, formerly a dedicated Shadean, re-considers the narrative structure of "Pale Fire" and deduces that the real forces behind both the poem and the commentary are Hazel Shade, acting from beyond the grave to inspire Kinbote/Botkin to make delicately allusive connections back to the poem even in the midst of his seemingly tone-deaf paranoid story of Zemblan royalty escaping over the mountains; and the dead John Shade, who inspires Botkin/Kinbote to devise the Jacob Gradus/Jack Grey story line (synchronized to the writing of the poem) to explain the absurdity of Shade's death. A most elaborate discussion, positing a rather preposterous reading, but very thoroughly argued and connected to other work by Nabokov that seems to suggest his willingness to believe in the spirit world influencing human action.
For a book-length critical commentary, it was stylistically clear and free of jargon.
I will remember Boyd's insistence that "Pale Fire" is both a joyful and amusing book to read, and one that pays off multiple re-readings to try to catch the elaborate structure of language and imagery.

And although nothing much can be seen through the mist, there is somehow the blissful feeling that one is looking in the right direction. (VN, Speak, Memory)

Pale Fire is one of the most incredible books ever written. Its humor, its mysteries, its poetry that is as incredible as its prose, it yearns for deeper exploration. Fortunately, scholars, including Boyd, have plumbed its depths and written eloquently about it.
I can't say that I agree with Boyd's reading of Pale Fire, but i do appreciate his thorough exploration and explication of Nabokov's masterpiece.

Aanrader om te lezen als Pale Fire je heeft gegrepen. Brian Boyd zet een sluitende theorie uiteen om de mysteries van het boek op te lossen en het genie van Nabokov bloot te leggen.