| Nabokov dedicated his life to intense scientific and literary pursuits.
He accepted that the heart of reality would forever remain a mystery to
mankind, but he believed that one "can get nearer and nearer to reality"
(Nabokov, Interview) as one thing is broken down to smaller and more fundamental
levels. He inserts this thematic variation of the "ungraspable phantom
of life" in Pale Fire, suggesting that this phantom is truly
supreme and that art has the capacity to allow the clearest glimpse of its
essence. |