Pale Fire is set in the world of academia (Wordsmith College, New Wye, Appalachia) and on one level is a satire of that environment. In form, too (a poem by a fictitious author with introduction, commentary and index by a fictitious editor), it parodies the excesses of literary scholarship. Ostensibly, there are three major players (with a highly entertaining series of minor characters): John Shade, author of the poem "Pale Fire"; Charles Kinbote, Shade's neighbor and the author of the commentary, introduction, and index to the poem; and Jack Grey, an escaped madman who kills Shade. On another level, it appears that Kinbote is mad, that he is actually a harmless pederast who believes that he is Charles the Beloved, exiled king of Zembla (a fictitious Eastern European country). In Kinbote's mind, Jack Grey is actually Jakob Gradus, a hired killer sent from Zembla...