An amazing straight-face, high-poshlust "analysis" (anonymous to be sure) of "Pale Fire" at :
http://www.novelguide.com/PaleFire/index.html *

among other royal jewels, says:

"Kinbote describes his loneliness in the Goldsworth house. ... He also dealt with the cruelty of the people on the faculty... there is some indication that he is persecuted, at least by the people at the college."

" There are indications throughout the text that Kinbote the professor would have sordid relations with students, which would also be an abuse of power, taking advantage of those who had little opportunity to refuse.  It is important to note that the culture that reviled homosexuality would drive a man to this, as there were limited opportunities to have an open and healthy homosexual relationship."

"Given that Nabokov's family fled the Russian Revolution, it is rather humorous that he has a king dressed in all red escaping . ....This text also came out in the decade after Senator Joseph McCarthy's "red scare," when American citizens were persecuted for being communists, even when little or no evidence against them existed. People were persecuted much like the King feels he is persecuted, but for an opposite reason.  And, people could have protected one another if they had all claimed to be reds, instead of trying to deny it and blame others."

* ["Novelguide.com is the premier free source for literary analysis on the web providing study guides as an educational supplement. Whether you call them book summaries, literature guides or novel guides, our hope is that this material will guide you to a better understanding of classic and contemporary works...... A true helper... a "novel" guide here for you and best of all "It's all free - always!"]

Victor Fet