Unreliable Narration in Pale Fire by Vladimir Nabokov

I found Vladimir Nabokov's Pale Fire to be an exceptionally difficult read, one with substantial rewards for those who are dedicated to the story. The subtle story being told through Kinbote's commentating on Shade's poem is extremely complex, but if the reader connects all of the references he makes we can learn a tale about the country of Zembla, escaped royalty, and the tragic mistaken assassination of a poet. Or it could all be completely made up. That is the beauty of having an "unreliable narrative," and I feel the narrator Nabokov created fulfills this role wonderfully.

All throughout Charles Kinbote's commentary of John Shade's poem Pale Fire, Kinbote tries to convince the reader that the poem is based on a story he told Shade about a fleeing king of a (assumingly) real country called Zembla. Shade's actual poem does not make any direct reference to Kinbote's story, instead Shade sporadically wrote in his notes either to involve it somehow or make a reference to it. Shade's choice not to include what Kinbote told him instead made Pale Fire more of an autobiographical poem (a seemingly mediocre one) about his beloved wife, his passed daughter and his search for an afterlife. It is then assumed that either Shade simply chose not to mention Kinbote's story in his poem, or Kinbote is instead making everything up. The true answer lies somewhere in the subtle conversation between Kinbote's commentary and Shade's poem, an answer which seems to be left to the reader to find.

Having an "unreliable narrative" can be much more rewarding than a straightforward story. Due to all of the loose connections and people's diverse interpretations of the story, completely different tales can be woven from Pale Fire. A quick search on the Internet shows dozens of different ideas from critics and devoted fans alike about Kinbote's true identity, whether or not Zembla is a completely fictitious country and why he's actually commentating on Shade's poem. The best part about all of these theories is that there is not a concrete "correct" story (unless Nabokov directly states so which at this point he has not), meaning any of them can be true. Personally, I enjoyed connecting all of the loose bits of Kinbote's story together and discovering his apparent true identity, and hopefully other authors will learn from the skepticism and controversy presented in Pale Fire.