Pale Fire: Illustrated Sports Illustrated Sports Pale Fire Journal | Page 98

The Reflections from the Fire
Throughout Vladimir Nabokov’s novel Pale Fire, there exists a constant
theme of reflections, with the poem itself written in a mirror-like structure, with
cantos 1 and 4 and 2 and 3 being similar in length. The novel also puts empha-
sis on words such as ‘crystal’ numerous times (such as “that crystal land” in line
12 and “crystallographer” on page 152). A crystal is defined as a “highly trans-
parent glass with a high refractive index,” meaning it is highly reflective to its
surroundings. Reflective numbers are also mentioned throughout, such as the
999 lines in the poem (13), or the streetlights numbered 999 (192). It is clear
that these details about reflections were not accidental, and instead serve a very
meaningful purpose towar ds the composition of the novel. I believe such a high
emphasis was put on reflections and identities in this work because Nabokov
wanted readers to be viewing every possible figment of the book as a part of a
whole, or as a “reflection.” I will be interpreting these reflections are pairings of
characters. There are many pairings of characters throughout the book that
could arguably be listed as shadows of one another, with there being very many
striking similarities between the two. It is possible that Nabokov wrote this piece
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