LEADER 04297nam 2200673Ia 450 001 9910780065603321 005 20231219072309.0 010 $a9781400823192$b(electronic book) 010 $a1400823196$b(electronic book) 010 $a9780691009599$b(hardback) 010 $a1-282-50558-0 010 $a9786612505584 010 $a1-4008-1111-2 024 7 $a10.1515/9781400823192 035 $a(CKB)111056486499254 035 $a(EBL)537653 035 $a(OCoLC)700686821 035 $a(SSID)ssj0000439978 035 $a(PQKBManifestationID)11315562 035 $a(PQKBTitleCode)TC0000439978 035 $a(PQKBWorkID)10469396 035 $a(PQKB)10630097 035 $a(OCoLC)744622210 035 $a(MdBmJHUP)muse36096 035 $a(DE-B1597)446250 035 $a(OCoLC)979754539 035 $a(DE-B1597)9781400823192 035 $a(Au-PeEL)EBL537653 035 $a(CaPaEBR)ebr10035901 035 $a(CaONFJC)MIL250558 035 $a(MiAaPQ)EBC537653 035 $a(EXLCZ)99111056486499254 100 $a19991221d1999 uy 0 101 0 $aeng 135 $aurnn#---|u||u 181 $ctxt 182 $cc 183 $acr 200 10$aNabokov's pale fire$b[electronic resource] $ethe magic of artistic discovery /$fBrian Boyd 205 $aCore Textbook 210 $aPrinceton, NJ $cPrinceton University Press$d1999 215 $a1 online resource (320 p.) 300 $aDescription based upon print version of record. 311 0 $a0-691-08957-4 311 0 $a0-691-00959-7 320 $aIncludes bibliographical references and index. 327 $tFront matter --$tContents --$tAcknowledgments --$tIntroduction --$tPART ONE. THESIS: READING STORY AS DISCOVERY --$tPART TWO. ANTITHESIS: REREADING IN SEARCH OF THE STORY BEHIND --$tPART THREE. SYNTHESIS: RE-REREADING DISCOVERY AS STORY --$tConclusion --$tNotes --$tBibliography --$tIndex 330 $aPale Fire is regarded by many as Vladimir Nabokov's masterpiece. The novel has been hailed as one of the most striking early examples of postmodernism and has become a famous test case for theories about reading because of the apparent impossibility of deciding between several radically different interpretations. Does the book have two narrators, as it first appears, or one? How much is fantasy and how much is reality? Whose fantasy and whose reality are they? Brian Boyd, Nabokov's biographer and hitherto the foremost proponent of the idea that Pale Fire has one narrator, John Shade, now rejects this position and presents a new and startlingly different solution that will permanently shift the nature of critical debate on the novel. Boyd argues that the book does indeed have two narrators, Shade and Charles Kinbote, but reveals that Kinbote had some strange and highly surprising help in writing his sections. In light of this interpretation, Pale Fire now looks distinctly less postmodern--and more interesting than ever. In presenting his arguments, Boyd shows how Nabokov designed Pale Fire for readers to make surprising discoveries on a first reading and even more surprising discoveries on subsequent readings by following carefully prepared clues within the novel. Boyd leads the reader step-by-step through the book, gradually revealing the profound relationship between Nabokov's ethics, aesthetics, epistemology, and metaphysics. If Nabokov has generously planned the novel to be accessible on a first reading and yet to incorporate successive vistas of surprise, Boyd argues, it is because he thinks a deep generosity lies behind the inexhaustibility, complexity, and mystery of the world. Boyd also shows how Nabokov's interest in discovery springs in part from his work as a scientist and scholar, and draws comparisons between the processes of readerly and scientific discovery. This is a profound, provocative, and compelling reinterpretation of one of the greatest novels of the twentieth century. 606 $aLiterature$xHistory and criticism 615 0$aLiterature$xHistory and criticism. 676 $a813/.54 700 $aBoyd$b Brian$f1952-$0676811 801 0$bMiAaPQ 801 1$bMiAaPQ 801 2$bMiAaPQ 906 $aBOOK 912 $a9910780065603321 996 $aNabokov's pale fire$93826605 997 $aUNINA