I started reading Nabokov's "Pale Fire" yesterday. I wonder what the best way of reading it might be. Is it better to begin with Kinbote's notes on the poem? or to just jump into the poem and read from front to back. I tend to want to read the notes as they are mentioned in the text and find myself jumping back and forth between pages. When the Preface sent me to the note on 991, off I went. (I love Nabokov's idea of ripping the thing in two and laying the parts side-by-side on a sturdy table....of course the publisher probably would prefer the two copy method of following notes. Nabokov is quite the wit, or perhaps I mean Kinbote.)

I've been told to look for references to "Erlkonig" and elves. "Lolita" also contains many references to elves. Is this something that runs through all of Nabokov's writing?