Behold a “Pale Fire”: Nabokov’s Communion of Consciousness and Creation

When primary colors are mixed together, a new color emerges, one that is lighter, more vibrant. When a memory is mixed with the passage of time, it becomes “colored” too. Sometimes, memories are bright and clear, as if the experience just happened. At other times, they are hazy, diffused and fragmented. And, still other times they are a combination of the two, clear and fragmented, seemingly mismatched, yet soundly apparent. “Pale Fire” is a work of layered memories, fact and fiction, and a meditation on a life of creativity.

“Pale Fire” unfolds via the memories of John Shade, Charles Kinbote, and Vladimir Nabokov, by virtue of his (sometimes, subtle) presence woven throughout. Shade, an eminent writer and protagonist of the story, is revered and lauded by Kinbote, the commentator and custodian of all things “John Shade.” Charles Kinbote is a commanding, yet unreliable observer, like a sound but splintered memory, akin to the shadow self. As narrator and (self-regarded as Shade’s muse), Charles Kinbote is informative, but also irrational and misleading. Kinbote superimposes his own exploits and achievements over Shade’s life and final creation. Their respective recollections create a point counterpoint. Shade’s canto and Kinbote’s commentary are the juxtaposition of the consciousness and the unconscious, with the nexus of creation, laying somewhere in-between. Most notably, the chess motif sprinkled throughout reveals Nabokov’s love of the game, but also reflects the style of the story. In chess, players can move their pieces backwards and forwards, diagonally and sideways. This is mirrored in Kinbote’s commentary, as his recounting veers from past and present, and flits between himself, Shade and others, again and again. The commentary progresses much like ideas and memories zig zag through our minds. Scattering through the light and dark, tangential yet concrete, they unify together, the collusion of the known and the unknown, the conscious and the unconscious, with the novel as the final piece standing.    

            Based on our previous experiences, memories can inform the future as much as they catalog the past. As a storytelling device, they are a facile tool to recall what has happened before and prepare the reader for what lays ahead. Though Kinbote’s observations and Shade’s recollections are seemingly disparate, when taken as a whole, they combine to create, at times, a confounding, but complete story. The final passage reminds us of the third layer and Nabokov’s definitive part in the story. As form follows function, so too, does story follow memory. Indeed, it is born from it.