Solving Nabokov's Pale Fire - A Deep Dive

Just read Pale Fire? Wondering what the heck happened?
In this video essay, we take a deep dive into the hidden narrative within Vladamir Nabokov’s enigmatic masterpiece.
Unsurprisingly, spoilers are included for the entirety of Pale Fire. So we recommend you read the book first. Really, go read it, it’s great.
Sources and recommended readings can be found here: docs.google.com/document/d/1h...
Page numbers used in quote referencing come from the Penguin Modern Classics 2016 edition of the text.
All character artworks and music are original. ©
Some licensed stock photos and footage used courtesy of Adobe Stock and Pixabay.
This video was written and created by Matthew McIlree and Sarah Greer.

[@kumiller00]

This channel really dropped one of the best literary analyses on KZbin and disappeared from the face of the earth

[@thewaxwingcollective5859]

We're still here! We've both been busy with various commitments, but are working on our next project in the background, don't worry (ideally it will be up before the two year mark). Much appreciate the enthusiasm haha, thank you! :) - S

[@steven2457]

​@@thewaxwingcollective5859we waiting

[@GeorgeSmileyOBE]

I hope it is Comparative Literature PhDs and you guys get jobs teaching. Really good analysis of a book I have loved puzzling through.

[@bobdigital21]

For the first time I realized those first lines in the poem are also a reflection to the life of Kinbote, which also seems to confirm he indeed committed suicide and hopes to live on through the work of a more talented man by being a part of it in his own unsavory way. The window pane is also a nod to how he spied through the windows. And he shadowed him (followed)

[@mominshahab9903]

....why is this your only video???? This is precisely what i need from youtube. DO MORE!!

[@HiAlphaPuppy]

This book is shown on the coffee table of the protagonist in Blade Runner 2049

[@Flowertot]

The unfinished index is so haunting

[@garethbeare8741]

The 999 line poem with which the strange and unreliable narrator leads us through his dreamlike fantasy against the blunt forensic fact of the poet John Shade, who was murdered in 1959.

[@physics223]

I admit that the "intentional murder" of Shade by Gradus, who was prosecuted by Goldsmith, got past me. I thought that it was a botched assassination as Gradus was incapable, but your analysis of Botkin living in Judge Goldsmith's house makes sense especially with the quotation that Gradus actually knew the place. Thanks!

[@ManoaTanahLot]

Dayum. This is so good! Ada or Ardor next would be a gift.

[@timpatterson8828]

Excellent analysis! This helped clear up some very nebulous ideas I had grabbed from the text while reading but never fully grasped or pieced together the meaning of. Furthermore, I have realized something you did not mention and it is making me cry, the TRUE tragedy of Pale Fire. It is not Shade's murder nor Botkin's suicide. Or, well, it is, but it goes one step further. You pointed out that Shade pities Botkin and is nice to him. What got me thinking is WHY does Shade pity Botkin. I believe that Botkin reminds him of his daughter, Hazel. They are both outcasts, lonely, hated by society. The Hazel/Botkin connection may even have been mentioned somewhere in the text? I can't remember. All could find in the way of evidence of John's feelings is in note 894, his diffusing of the tension between Botkin and Emerald could be described as paternal. Anyway, the True Tragedy of this book is that Botkin, disappointed that the poem is not about his Zembla, does not realize that as Shade got to know him, he was reminded more and more of his daughter, and was inspired to write the poem, come to terms with Hazel's death, and make peace with life, the grand potato, etc. Shade wrote Pale Fire, not ABOUT Botkin, as poor Botkin was expecting, but BECAUSE of Botkin. Shade saw him as a reflection of Hazel. BOTKIN IS THE SHADOW OF THE WAXWING SLAIN. In the foreword, Botkin talks about watching Shade take in the world and turn it into poetry: "Here he is... that is his head... He is looking ... at a distant lake. I am looking at him. I am witnessing... John Shade perceiving and transforming the world...so as to produce... a line of verse." Shade was walking with Botkin, was looking at the place where his daughter died, was working the poetry in his head. The poetry of the novel is astounding. The false azure sky reflection kills the waxwing. The false self in his own reflection kills Botkin. The false reflection of Hazel in Botkin kills Shade. The false reflection of Goldsworth in Shade kills Jack Gray.

[@davidmcduff-boxer3803]

Wow this is amazing!! I think you're correct. Adding meat to the whole affair, two passages come to mind: the first being an index entry under "Kinbote, Charles, Dr.", which reads "his affinity with Hazel, 334, 348". I then went to see Kinbote's comments to those lines. In the first, 334, Kinbote likens himself to Hazel: just as she waited for a beau who never came, he waits for John Shade to come see him. But it's the second one that kills me, it goes like this: "lines 347-348 : She twisted words One of the examples her father gives is odd. I am quite sure it was I who one day, when we were discussing "mirror words," observed (and I recall the poet's expression of stupefaction) that 'spider' in reverse is 'redips,' and 'T.S. Eliot,' 'toilest.' But then it is also true that Hazel Shade resembled me in certain aspects." Reading it the first time, I dismissed this, lumping it in with other numerous examples of Kinbote's tendency to see himself in everything Shade wrote. I thought Kinbote was claiming false ownership over the reversed words. But Kinbote might very well be the author of these word reversals, after all his name is just such a play on Botkin. What if Shade did see Hazel in Kinbote, and that their shared love of wordplay reminded Shade, the father, of his daughter!

[@hughtierneytierney3585]

Some very interesting thoughts. Your perspicuity is much appreciated.

[@honeyinglune8957]

The Scottish accent is beautiful. Great first video

[@ia2625]

Ghosts in Pale Fire are actually a rabbit hole at least as deep as the Botkin one and in my opinion make all the themes of mirrors, reflections, suicide, the afterlife, authority and authorship come together beautifully. Once you add up the details in the commentary (especially those that are concerned with mirrorings), a picture emerges of Shade finishing his work as a ghost from the afterlife by haunting Kinbote's story and aiding his own death by guiding Gradus (within the fiction of Kinbote), thus becoming the waxwing that crashed into his own reflection and mirroring his daughter's suicide. Just as Kinbote was initially disappointed that the poem wasn't about Zembla but later claimed to have found bits of Zembla in it, the reader is initially jarred and disappointed that the commentary ignores the poem completely, but then realizes there is bits of Shade in Zembla. I won't list all the evidence I've found for this theory, but I think Brian Boyd's The Magic of Artistic Discovery should cover most of it, though I haven't read it yet. It'd make for a cool sequel to this video.

[@havefunbesafe]

Reading it on mini pad is the best! Can search names, words, definitions and I can mark up pages with scribble, highlights and notes. It’s quite the Meta experience doing exactly what Kinbote that nutcase is also doing.

[@ceoofpacifism]

This is a great study. I read the book last year and it was really interesting to watch this. I believe the Russian immigrant theme could be somewhat taken from Nabokov's own life. There's also probably something to the fact that Zembla is a monarchy that got taken over by communists, forcing the main character to run. Nabokov got really screwed over by the October Revolution and the way Kinbote/Botkin describes Gradus (especially the "Mere springs and coils..." paragraph) felt like a reflection of his thoughts. I spent hours on the nabokovian reading about different interpretations, but this is the first instance of one so consistent and concrete. The fact that this channel is so underrated is a war crime, this is an absolute gem

[@manpun3645]

This is one of the best video easey I've seen about litterateur.

[@haneulkim8877]

Just finished the book today and I am so grateful that this video exists. Like you mentioned, I just skimmed the index and didn't think much about it. Thank you for the video; it was both entertaining and eye opening.

[@TheMe9595]

My wife has been watching the show You lately and when reading through the book, I really thought Kinbote was going to end up killing Shade. That everything about the revolutionaries was just him justifying it. I thought there were a lot of similarities between Kinbote and the main character from You. They are both just full of delusions about who they are and their relationship with the other person.

[@graceziegel4960]

THIS ROCKS!!!!!!!

[@acr540]

so cool. I don 't understand why there are so few views . Thank you for the analysis

[@georgemonaghan4]

That was so fucking good. Throughout the video when you brought up certain sentences I remembered that I had felt a pang of confusion or unease when I encountered them but moved on without drawing any connections (such as the faculty member saying I thought your name came from Botkin and Botkin as a job type surname). How much of this was your analysis and how much was from the essay you mentioned? Regardless, everything in this was so well done. Thank you so much. Must say I feel a little cheated that the (Penguin!) Kindle version didn’t have the index. Thanks again and very excited to follow this channel onwards.

[@georgemonaghan4]

Waxwing in your name makes me fear you only intend to do this video. I hope that’s not the case.

[@thewaxwingcollective5859]

Hi George. Thanks for your lovely comment - glad you enjoyed! The Mary McCarthy essay was the first to state the idea that Kinbote is really a Russian named Botkin, but we had to find most of the textual evidence to back up that claim ourselves. And we came up with most of the analyses/thoughts featured in Parts 3 and 4 entirely on our own, before reading other interpretations out of interest. Don't worry, we are hoping we might make more videos on this channel in future! We just need to find the right topic or book first. Appreciate your enthusiastic support (and best of luck with your own channel).

[@HiAlphaPuppy]

@@thewaxwingcollective5859 Yes!!! Make more!!! Also, as a suggestion, what I want to see you make is: a video showing how the novel Pale Fire influence/inspired the plot of Blade Runner 2049. I have looked around for a good analysis of Blade Runner 2049 and I haven't found a decent one, and there are some glaring parallels between these two stories. A lot of movies are inspired by books, and I think its not fair to both genres if that wasn't better explored. Also, I think people would love to see that, like and subscribe.

[@HiAlphaPuppy]

Maybe I should mention that Pale Fire is featured in the beginning of Blade Runner 2049 (picked up off a coffee table by Ana de Armas and held perfectly in frame), so it's clear the Director wanted the audience to see the similarities, but no one talks about it.

[@alsaba5203]

​@@HiAlphaPuppy Someone noticed. Check Fallopium Films Blade runner 2049.

[@andemand5172]

Just finished the book, and this video really gave me some extremely valuable insight into what this work really encompasses. Super explanative and well edited too.

[@ShakespeareExplained]

This is a wonderful video about a fantastic novel. Really excited for this channel to grow!

[@BittermanAndy]

Superb. I just finished Pale Fire and can't stop thinking about it. This opened up so many new perspectives that I hadn't considered.

[@StephenBagley247]

I finished Pale Fire this week, and oh my gosh, this video has shed so much light on my reading! I totally missed the Botkin references (happy to admit I neglected the index), I did consider that Kinbote might be a creation of John shade, but the Prof Botkin solution seems a lot tidier/meatier. Gonna have to pick it back up and give it another going through- thanks so much for the analysis! Is the song at the end something you wrote? It’s fab!

[@thewaxwingcollective5859]

We are very happy to hear that! Thank you for watching. Would definitely recommend reading through the index, there are a lot of cool fun details in there that we didn't fully discuss in the video. And yes, the song is ours - Matthew gets full credit for the lyrics! - S

[@garethbeare8741]

Pale Fire also contains an in-joke reference to "hurricane lolita", you get it or you don't.

[@erickcarriera3424]

Thank you for making this

[@mikhailtaufiq1583]

This is probably my favourite book, ever. You guys made it an even more rich post-read experience and I can't thank you enough! Hope you're both doing well and can't wait for more content ;)

[@marcobarros4742]

I have not been able to stop talking about this book since I started reading it and this video is amazing! I am so happy that there are people passionate enough to spend this much time making an youtube analysis on such a nice subject as they would on a good video game or something else. I loved the part about how pale fire is an interactive experience. I can't express enough how happy I am that people can have as much fun with this older and less accessible story! Video also cleared my questions and I can't wait so see where this channel will go in the future!

[@Rattleheadcrusher90]

The song in the end. *Bozhe moy! Bozhe moy!*

[@lisiqi8322]

Legend! Really enjoy how you step by step solve the puzzle of Pale Fire and how it turned out to be a tragic story.

[@RegardingPears]

Incredible analysis, even better song

[@oliverbostridge8370]

Very impressive video! I so hope you make more of them.

[@SA-hw4bz]

Thank you so much! Having english as a second language, I found this much more difficult than Lolita. Didn't stop Nabokov though : ) Speak, Kimbolt!

[@mr-arabie-5004]

you two work very well off of each other, very impressed with this work.

[@joshuahannah2070]

This is incredible. Please, please do more!

[@horse_videos]

will you do another nabokov novel next?

[@alanowens6699]

Superb. The best analysis I’ve ever read or viewed about my favourite novel. So good that this is the first and probably the only comment I’ve ever made on KZbin. Absolutely wonderful!

[@HiAlphaPuppy]

A lot of great work was put into this video. Thank you for this. PLEASE MAKE MORE!

[@williamcurcio7367]

I really enjoyed this. Thank you!

[@PoetNoPoems]

What a beautiful video for a masterpiece. Please continue, your efforts are not as hidden as the text the video examines.

[@jaredmercado7045]

I just finished this last week this video was recommended to me at the perfect moment

[@MEAPGamingHD]

A lot of great work in this video! can’t wait for more.

[@NosnalemNaej]

Thank you so much for sharing this!

[@maucleo_307]

Such a amazing video. Hope you post more!

[@skippycoulter]

This was a brilliant analysis and so charmingly and engagingly delivered. Magnificent work!

[@sewerworld6448]

I really appreciate this! Thank you!!

[@Tom-db7bm]

What an amazing video! Very well done both

[@sebay]

Amazing video! Please keep making videos!

[@paige1521]

Excellent video, can’t wait to see how this channel continues to emerge and grow.

[@Merlandese]

Lovely video, and well done. Excited to se what else you get up to.

[@shawnyepes2389]

This was an amazing analysis. Thank you so much for this

[@cristoballopez2260]

Amazing video. I wish all the success to your project! :)

[@antoniawolczecka1]

I love this format of video essay, please make more !

[@oukedouke]

What a wonderful job you guys did with this video! Thank you for putting this all together and sharing

[@cinemartin]

What an amazing video. Seems to have come perfectly in time for me to have finished reading Pale Fire! So very glad you guys made this and made it so entertaining, thorough and creative. Would love to see more. Keep it up.

[@timelanguid4813]

This is a deep analysis. Respect to all involved for deconstructing this. You have invested a lot of time in this and it shows. Much appreciated.

[@nightshade7714]

Good video, hope you make more. I’m studying this for quiz bowl

[@MsVorpalBlade]

Greetings from Auckland. Loved this video. Subscribed.

[@Addi_the_Hun]

Casually drops somes of the best literally analysis out there, refuses to elaborate, leaves. What did they mean by this? Are they waiting for blade runner 3????

[@rooruffneck]

Great work!

[@blooodytwins]

Amazing! thanks for all the effort you put in. Really hope you end up covering some more Nabokov. Would love to see something on Ada

[@paull7664]

Excellent! I love this book, and I've never found a good video on it until today. Thanks a lot. I hope you will continue running this channel!

[@tomes2821]

Thank you sooo much. Great vid. Great novel.

[@Wezla]

Wonderful video, you do the book a lot of justice and that little nod to alternative story telling and how this book is a prime example of it really wasn't expected but it was appreciated!

[@user-hc3op4lm6i]

Thanks for the video

[@anniehow70]

wow @ the song at the end!!

[@ansaryesmukhanov8271]

Fantastic. Thank you very much. Your video opened my eyes to some more intricate details, like the real identity of Gradus. Meta-analysis also was perfectly on point. I am happy you made this book more accessible to some people

[@joelrewa-morgan107]

Amazing! Thank you.

[@mahimaravi3210]

This is such a brilliant videa, it really explained so much that I could not pick up in my one read of pale fire. I just have one question... What did you think of the alternative lines in the draft that Kinbote presents, that have more explicit allusions to Zembla? Do you think he made those up or do you think Shade wrote those maybe just to humour Kinbote?

[@CaptainSamuelVimesBootsTheory]

I think this channel is gonna get me into literature. Oh no

[@hypnocervus]

Excellent work - chapeau!

[@bej6190]

This was an amazing video, hopefully you guys continue to make more

[@bej6190]

still waiting if you ever want to :)

[@meeDamian]

Alright, I’ll read it again, dammit

[@NoahCross1]

Great Job!

[@daskdask]

Amazing

[@rooruffneck]

How do I constantly listen to that little mastpiece that ends the video?

[@thewaxwingcollective5859]

You're very kind, thank you. Glad you enjoyed! We have a SoundCloud where you can find the song: m.soundcloud.com/the-waxwing-collective. We plan to upload more songs/videos on there and this channel in the future.

[@rooruffneck]

@@thewaxwingcollective5859 That's wonderful to hear because the worst part of my morning, thus far, was right after I finished your video and typed the above question and then greedily clicked onto "The Waxwing Collective" to explore which of your videos I would be watching next. Utter shock and horror. But thanks for the link. What a great voice, melody, lyrics and tune. Thanks for making the video, and good luck on whatever is next!

[@vegansportsbar7453]

Cool video, L&S.

[@Farquad-JR657]

This is what I need!!!

[@pgl3gh0rn]

Brilliant :)

[@garethbeare8741]

The writer in masterful English, Vladimir Nabokov ( 1899 - 1977 ). He also wrote many other books.

[@rezontwopointone]

Thank you!!. I am currently reading this and was losing my mind over Zembla. I started doubting my own level of intellect lmaooo. Turns out Kinbote really sucks and I'm not surprised by this move of Nabokov's. He likes to play with the reader this way.

[@imacg5]

Just realized this is the origin story of Professor X.

[@jonnyleeg4058]

Feels like Mulholland drive

[@garethbeare8741]

I read Pale Fire first in 1985 and most recently in 2023, and the novel has aged less than I have. The pathological narcissism of the narrator is even more ingeniously and entertainingly obvious than originally. 'Zemla', a ' distant northern land'.

[@dominicgodfrey8015]

I like your thinking. Hal...... = Halitosis. See Charles Dares Substack, lost work

[@adeladeeb5576]

Bro uploaded one video, and decided he was done with it

[@Flowertot]

TYSM I missed so much loool

[@varvarvarvarvarvar]

This is neat. This book basically teaches you to pay close attention to the cross-referencing of biographical snippets about the writer presenting a piece of information against the biographical snippets of his involvement in larger social networks and world events, all without spelling out that said writer has a deceitful agenda for the information he's presenting you with (such lack of guidance is crucial to the effect). The video says as much, but I find it amusing that it also completely leaves Nabokov out of the spotlight, as if it's irrelevant where he's coming from with this book of his.

[@fjdarling]

I'm interested in how this book relates to Blade Runner 2049. I can't believe they're leading me to decipher literature.

[@sjtwstot]

Here: Blade Runner 2049 | "Cells Interlinked" and Pale Fire kzbin.info/www/bejne/haWvp6eDpryBsJosi=YtQp24qoUrh33n4X

[@donaldshelton6632]

Is there any way to get a copy of the song at the end of this video? So beautiful and haunting!

[@thewaxwingcollective5859]

Thank you, glad you enjoyed it :-) Yes, it’s available on our SoundCloud: soundcloud.com/the-waxwing-collective

[@infectedgoat7775]

It’s like analog horror before analog horror in the written word! Lovely thank you!! I just finished Pale Fire and love this analysis. ❤

[@mfang354]

i think the idea that kinbote committed suicide is further strengthened by the comment on line 493. he seems to have considered the idea of suicide quite a lot and has even sorted out what he thinks to be the most ideal way of doing it. he even says “if i were a poet i would certainly make an ode to the sweet urge to close one’s eyes and surrender utterly unto the perfect safety is wooed death. ecstatically one forfeels the vastness of the Divine Embrace enfolding one’s liberated spirit, the warm bath of physical dissolution, the he universal unknown engulfing the minuscule that had been the only real part of one’s temporary personality” then later says in the same note “so what can stop one from effecting the transition? what can help us to resist the intolerable temptation? what can prevent us from yielding to the burning desire for merging in god? we who burrow in filth every day may be forgiven perhaps the one sin that ends all sins”, which seems to me like him justifying suicide to himself.

[@user-nb3mq3cg8k]

The cubixology scientific article is funny... 😂 ... Is that true though? If not that is very ingenious!

[@nickwyatt9498]

@___________uncompetative: No, it’s to do with the brilliance, wit and complete originality of the novel. Some of us like that sort of thing. The fact that Pale Fire was such a gloriously unexpected follow-up to Lolita is merely the vodka-soaked cherry on the multi-layered cake.

[@bobdigital21]

@49:35 i really enjoy this song. What style of music would you call this? I'd like to find more music like it.

[@thewaxwingcollective5859]

Thanks! Glad you liked it. It’s loosely inspired by Russian/Slavic folk music but also with a bit of Scottish influence :-)

[@AmusedChild]

I did read this book straight through and got most of it. (Except, as a former indexer, I didn't want to analyze one more index!)

[@julietmarcroft160]

to be honest I really hated this book until you made some sense of it

[@milfredcummings717]

KEYSER SÖZE!!! KEYSER SÖZE!!! KEYSER SÖZE!!!!!!! 😄

[@AyotreyD]

Yo where can I find this song at?

[@thewaxwingcollective5859]

Hi Trey, thanks for being interested! You can find it here on our SoundCloud: m.soundcloud.com/the-waxwing-collective

[@seyyers]

Interlinked

[@dominicgodfrey8015]

Hi is there any way of contacting you, I've found something extraordinary but nobody around me understands [you may have encountered this problem] I solve riddles for fun and believe I've found literary gold. Your critical analysis and presentation is excellent 👌 I've attempted to contact academia but this proved pointless. You have spent so much time and effort presenting Nabokov's work, I think you rightly deserve to know about his New York Secret. 🙌

[@thewaxwingcollective5859]

Hi Dominic! Thank you for taking the time to watch our video, your kind comments are much appreciated :). We are unsure about what both of your comments are referring to, but also curious - feel free to email us at [e-mail].

[@jungleepagal1109]

Hi 👋 thank you for your swift reply.

[@Azu_303]

Please make more videos