Vladimir Nabokov

Annotations by Alexey Sklyarenko

Description

Please read Alexey Sklyarenko's annotations on Pale FireAda and other Nabokov works here.

By Alexey Sklyarenko , 25 July, 2024

According to Kinbote (in VN’s novel Pale Fire, 1962, Shade's mad commentator who imagines that he is Charles the Beloved, the last self-exiled king of Zembla), his uncle Conmal (the Zemblan translator of Shakespeare) was famed for the nobility of his work; few dared question its fidelity:

 

By Alexey Sklyarenko , 23 July, 2024

At the end of his commentary Kinbote (in VN’s novel Pale Fire, 1962, Shade’s mad commentator who imagines that he is Charles the Beloved, the last self-exiled king of Zembla) twice repeats the phrase "better stop:"

 

By Alexey Sklyarenko , 17 July, 2024

Describing the king’s escape from Zembla, Kinbote (in VN’s novel Pale Fire, 1962, Shade’s mad commentator who imagines that he is Charles the Beloved, the last self-exiled king of Zembla) mentions lazy Garh, the farmer's daughter who shows to the king the shortest way to the pass:

 

By Alexey Sklyarenko , 16 July, 2024

Describing the king’s escape from Zembla, Kinbote (in VN’s novel Pale Fire, 1962, Shade’s mad commentator who imagines that he is Charles the Beloved, the last self-exiled king of Zembla) mentions an old gold piece that the king asked Griff, a gnarled grunter (mountain farmer), to accept: