Or link me an essay about it? Very confused thoughts about it.

did you read the book?

isn't it a quasi-poem epic?

theres a poem written by a dead guy and then his editor explains it

nice premise, seems engaging

i guess theres lots of footnotes which are part of the concept

the book is essentially an introduction (fictional, in-world), poem, then a series of endnotes. The narrative itself is outlined obliquely. It's a fun book to read

Essentially, the premise of the novel is a poem by John Shade who has now passed away, and the ‘editor’ Charles Kinbote has self appointed himself to a***yse the poem at the end of the book.

The actual poem itself is split into large themes such as death, his daughter, and the afterlife.

The a***ysis that takes place at the end of the poem by Kinbote is a wild misinterpretation — instead of actually explaining what Shade is speaking about, Kinbote uses the poem to ramble on about his delirious worldview

Yes but I'm embarassed to admit I found it quite hard to absorb

They make critical errors (e.g. fail to consider the whole poem, neglect Hazel, drain the story of its metaphysical import, etc.), but it is an accessible point of entry for understanding Pale Fire's plot mechanics.

Thank you, also finished last week and yeah, this is something special

Im adding this to my reading list, sounds crazy

I wrote a senior thesis on Pale Fire as a chess problem that was received very, very tepidly by my professor, so I’d urge that you not view it through such a lens