Pale Fire

Vladimir Nabokov · 1899–1977 · Russia / USA

Why it matters

A 999-line poem and the deranged commentary that hijacks it: a novel assembled by the reader from footnotes. Postmodernism's favorite magic trick, and possibly Nabokov's most perfect construction.

At a glance

Nonlinear footnote structure forces the reader to assemble plot and unreliable narrator's delusions themselves.