Nabokov's Pale Fire: The Mimetic Exegesis

Mimesis is the illusion of an existing art, a reinterpretation of the diegesis complete with imagery, characters, and dialogue. That is, mimesis is the deconstruction of art's reality into an alternative reality as represented by the reader or the commentator. Therefore, Kinbote, as protagonist, creates the mimesis around Shade's, the antagonist, poem which is the diegesis of the poem. Shade's poem represents the reality which is perceived by the communal eye, the reality which Shade explicitly expresses. While Kinbote's interpretation of the poem is the 'true art' which transcends the meaning of Shade's poem by coalescing characters such as, King Xavier II, places such as, Zembla, and dialogues such as the reenactment of Hazel Shade's discussion with her parents in the barn.

Kinbote establishes himself as a true artist in which Shade's work would have "no human reality at all since human reality of such a poem as his...has to depend entirely on the reality of its author and his surroundings" (Nabokov, p. 28-29). Though Kinbote is referring to the notes which Shade disposed of, he may be implying instead that he is the "real" author and that the interpretation of Shade's poem depends on Kinbote's reality. This is expressed when Kinbote subtly uses Eystein's art as a metaphor for Shade's art, "reality" is neither the subject nor the object of true art which creates its own reality having nothing to do with the average "reality" perceived by the communal eye (Nabokov, p. 130). The diegesis is therefore the plain, average art which can be manipulated or deconstructed for a fancier interpretation. Shade's poem is victimized by Kinbote's interpretation - his illusion of the meaning of the poem.

Nabokov's goal in creating a conflict in which mimesis attempts to destroy diegesis - in which Kinbote writes a commentary about his experience using Shade's poem - is to draw a parallel between the reader and Kinbote. When attempting to deconstruct Kinbote's text alongside Shade's, the reader finds herself constructing a mimesis through exegesis. An exegesis is an interpretation of a text, a translation, an understanding of what the text means. Through interpreting the exegesis of Kinbote's commentary as the exegesis of Shade's poem, multiple exegeses may form each one as an imitation or representation of what Kinbote's commentary means in relation to Shade's poem. Nonetheless, when attempting to explain the meaning of the text, as Kinbote attempted with Shade's poem, mimesis is inevitably intertwined. Therefore, Kinbote's mimesis is created through his exegesis of the poem.

It is Kinbote, not Shade, who characterizes the story line of Pale Fire. The plot goes as follows: the King of Zembla escapes from the revolutionaries who want to assassinate him; Gradus, a revolutionary, goes on a mission to assassinate the King; Jack Grey or Gradus is in "reality" an escapee from a mental institution who accidentally murders Shade, is jailed then kills himself; Kinbote reveals that he is the King of Zembla and therefore the commentary is about himself. Regardless of how much of Kinbote's commentary is in itself an illusion, an extension of his insanity, and a complete lie; regardless of whether Kinbote's exegesis of Shade's poem is accurate or not, it is Kinbote's mere interpretation - his world of illusion in which Shade's poem is defined word for word corresponding to Kinbote's story - which gives meaning to Shade's art. Therefore it is Shade's poem which steals its pale fire from Kinbote's narrative and therefore would not contain any meaning or purpose without Kinbote's commentary.

The question now is whether the "reality" which exists in Kinbote's imagination is reality in itself (in other words, whether the reader should accept Kinbote's imagination as the truth); for the mind is the base for interpreting reality whether illusory or actual. Gradus's reality, or at least as it exists in Kinbote's imagination, is the mission to assassinate the King. While Kinbote's reality is being the King himself who escapes death as Shade accidentally gets murdered. Another reality which may exist solely in Kinbote's mind is his close camaraderie with Shade, and finally Zembla, which does not actually exist, but may be a metaphor for a place in eastern Europe. Perhaps Nabokov created Kinbote as a seemingly untrustworthy narrator to depict that true art is not real and that any reality illustrated by Kinbote is a reality in itself. "I can do what only a true artist can do- pounce upon the forgotten butterfly of revelation, wean myself abruptly from the habit of things, see the web of the world" (Nabokov, p. 289), Kinbote is acknowledging that his commentary deviates from the subject of Shade's poem, and rightfully so because seeing the "warp and the weft of the web" means seeing the number of possibilities to interpret a piece of art (in this case, Shade's poem). Kinbote therefore creates a commentary in which he does not simplify the meaning of Shade's poem with a single explanation, but instead expands the number of possibilities for interpretation. Thus, creating a convoluted explanation for multiple interpretation to a simple, straightforward poem is Nabokov's goal in creating deceptive Kinbote "I wish you gasp not only at what you read but at the miracle of its being readable" (Nabokov, 289).

Shade's poem flatly, though prettily, expresses the deaths of Hazel, his parents, his Aunt Maud, and his own near-death experience. Suffice to say that Shade's poem is about death, whereas the theme in Kinbote's commentary is survival, including the survival of the soul after death, and Kinbote's own continuous existence. In a dialogue, representing mimesis, Shade and Kinbote debate over the soul after death with Kinbote promoting the belief in God and afterlife where souls live on, while Shade provides a materialistic godless explanation in which souls are determined by chance. Shade's view is a foreshadowing of his own death which is death caused by Kinbote imagination; in other words, Shade ceases to exist by Kinbote's command. Likewise, Jack Grey ceases to exist Kinbote's imagination, though another Gradus may still appear.

Gradus exists as Jack Grey in Kinbote's imagination but only as much as Kinbote exists as Charles Xavier, "a lunatic who intends to kill an imaginary king, another lunatic who imagines himself to be that king" (Nabokov, p. 301) this means that Grey's death creates a new Gradus. A more competent Gradus who can succeed in killing the King. Gradus exists as a personality, he lives on and duplicates through souls as Kinbote perceives them, he transfers his energy through other souls through Kinbote's imagination. Here, Kinbote's imagination is a metaphor for electricity, "the Earth would not merely fall apart, but vanish like a ghost, if Electricity were suddenly removed from the world" (Nabokov, p. 193).

Gradus's aim is to kill the imaginary King of Zembla and so long as this King exists in Kinbote's imagination, Gradus cannot kill him, therefore Gradus will continue to exist until Kinbote kills himself, and therefore the King. Whether Jack Grey really was just an escapee from a mental institution who decided to kill the man who he thought sent him there, and not, as Kinbote believes, a aspiring assassin of the King, is significant as it leads to Grey's death. Though Kinbote writes that Grey's death is not due to his insignificance in the text, but instead due to Grey's despair for murdering the wrong man, Grey's insignificance is intertwined with his failure to kill Kinbote. With Grey's death, a new Gradus must be born and game must be resumed.

Hazel Shade observes this particular energy in the barn "10:25: a roundlet of pale light...changed its place...dancing up and down; seemed to wait in teasing play for evadable pounce. Gone. 10:30: Back again." Hazel's observation was that the pale light (a ghost) continued to exist with vigorous energy (just as Kinbote aspires). Nevertheless, Hazel is also said to be insane by her doctor and parents, showing an extension of crazy Aunt Maud's characteristics. Neither one of Hazel's parents see or hear a ghost in the barn. Thus, it is plausible that the ghost solely exists in Hazel's imagination.

When Kinbote says "God will help me, I trust, to rid myself of any desire to follow the example of two other characters of this work" (Nabokov, p. 300) the two characters represent Jack Grey and John Shade who die in Kinbote's imagination "my work is finished. My poet is dead," and "[Shade] perishes in the clash between the two figments" [Kinbote and Jack Grey's imaginations]. He goes on to say, "I shall continue to exist. I may assume other disguises, other forms, but I shall try to exist" (Nabokov, p. 300) which illustrates Kinbote's immortality by his imagination. He can continue to exist so long as he imagines himself to exist and he can kill a character so long as he imagines the death of him.

The relationship between Kinbote and Shade is that Shade exists and ceases to exist within Kinbote's realm. Kinbote is the "god" who determines where Shade's shade is destined and especially, how his poem is interpreted. By this philosophy, Kinbote, too can exist as anyone in the context of his imagination. He can be the King of Zembla, or he can be a heterosexual professor. The point is that Kinbote's imagination is in control of all the characters. Gradus exists in Kinbote's imagination as the assassin of the King, while the King, too, exists in Kinbote's imagination as himself - the former King of Zembla and professor. The only way Gradus can succeed in killing the King (as Kinbote anticipates in the last sentence of page 300, "he will knock on my door - a bigger, more respectable, more competent Gradus), is if Kinbote kills himself and therefore the King who exists solely in his imagination.