Vladimir Nabokov (1899—1977)

The sun's a thief, and with his great attraction Robs the vast sea; the moon's an arrant thief, And her pale fire she snatches from the sun; The sea's a thief, whose liquid surge resolves The moon into salt tears; the earth's a thief, That feeds and breeds by a composture stol'n From gen'ral excrement; each thing's a thief. William Shakespeare (1564 — 1616)

A considerable body of analysis, exegesis, commentary and speculation has sprung up around Pale Fire. I'll try herein to provide some links to some resources that may prove useful.

Early Reviews.

George Cloyne's review of Pale Fire in the New York Times on Sunday, May 27, 1962 derides the poetry as minor and anachronistic: John Shade’s poem also comes too late.

Bolt from the Blue is the effusive review by Mary McCarthy published in The New Republic on June 4, 1962. The quote printed on the current cover of the novel comes from this piece. A creation of perfect beauty, symmetry, strangeness... one of the very great works of art of this century. The opening lines of the essay are rather striking:

VN reading from at 92nd Street Y

VN reading from at 92nd Street Y






nytimes.com/books/97/03/02/lifetimes/nabokov.html

Edmund Wilson's review of The Stories of Vladimir Nabokov in the New Republic

Search for reviews
Search for criticism and analyses
Compilation of literary review of VN in the New Republic(April 23, 2009)
Archives of NABOKV-L@LISTSERV.UCSB.EDU, from february 1993
Nabokov Online Journal

A general interest story from CNN: After Death Experiences

Boyd, Brian.
Nabokov's "Pale Fire": The Magic of Artistic Discovery.
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1999. Xii + 303 pp. $29.95.
   excerpts from Google Books    Complete first chapter via NYT Book Review
   NYT Review(March 5, 2000),    by Daniel Zalewski,

Find what the sailor has hidden : Vladimir Nabokov's Pale Fire
Meyer, Priscilla.
Edition: 1st ed.
Middletown, Conn. : Wesleyan University Press, c1988.
v, 276 p. ; 24 cm.
LIVONIACC 813.54N


Poems and problems
Nabokov, Vladimir Vladimirovich, 1899-1977.
New York, McGraw-Hill Book Co. c1970
218 p. 22 cm.
Thirty-nine Russian poems with English translations
--Fourteen English poems.
--Eighteen chess problems.
--Solutions.
LIVONIANBL 891.714N ROMULUS ISBN: 0070457247

Strong opinions
Nabokov, Vladimir Vladimirovich, 1899-1977.
New York, McGraw-Hill [1973]
xiii, 335 p. 22 cm.
FERNDALE ROYALOAK 809 N117S
ISBN:0070457379 : 8.95

Lectures on literature
Nabokov, Vladimir Vladimirovich, 1899-1977.
Lectures on literature / Vladimir Nabokov ;
edited by Fredson Bowers ; introd. by John Updike.
LIVONIANBL 891.709N

Bader, Julia. Crystal Land: Artifice in Nabokov’s English Novels.
Berkeley: University of California Press, 1972. The discussion of Pale Fire is extensive and insightful, concentrating upon the novel as imaginative experience.
Boyd, Brian. Vladimir Nabokov: The Russian Years and Vladimir Nabokov: The American Years.
Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1990, 1991. Pages: 783 p. : ISBN:069106797X Livonia Public Library Civic Center Biography Collection.
This two-volume biography is absolutely essential not only for its information about Nabokov’s life but about his life’s relation to his art. The story of Nabokov's life continues with his arrival in the United States in 1940. He found that supporting himself and his family was not easy--until the astonishing success of Lolita catapulted him to world fame and financial security.
Dembo, L. S., ed. Nabokov: The Man and His Work.
Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1967. This early collection of articles on Nabokov introduced many of the ideas that later critics would continue to discuss. Excellent article by John O. Lyons on Pale Fire.
Rampton, David. Vladimir Nabokov: A Critical Study of the Novels.
New York: Cambridge University Press, 1984. Although Rampton limits his discussion to a few novels, his concentration upon content is a good antidote to the many formal approaches to Nabokov.
Roth, Phyllis A., ed. Critical Essays on Vladimir Nabokov.
Boston: G. K. Hall, 1984. Comprehensive, very helpful selection of articles on Nabokov. Pale Fire is treated in several of the essays.

a 1964 interview later published in Playboy: “I was never exposed in the twenties and thirties […] to the poetry of the not quite first-rate Eliot and of definitely second-rate Pound.”

In a 1969 BBC-2 interview, Nabokov tells James Mossman that “that passion [for poetry] started to dwindle around 1940 when I stopped gorging myself on contemporary verse. I know as little about today’s poetry as about new music.”

In his autobiography Speak, Memory, Nabokov writes “the mysteries of mimicry had a special attraction for me. Its phenomena showed an artistic perfection usually associated with man-wrought things.”
Nabokov's interview. (15) Novel [1970]
A Full List of Interviews from An Essay on Man by Alexander Pope (1688—1744),
Epistle II—Of the Nature and State of Man with Respect to Himself,
   as an Individual.