Jerry Friedman [to Dave]: "...When people take the idea seriously that a Nabokov story is like a chess problem, they may still be right to think there's only one key, but it may be worth repeating that much of the interest in a problem can be in other "phases" of play, namely what would happen if it were Black's move and how Black refutes White's incorrect but tempting attempts.  Or so I'm told.  Thus finding the key doesn't end the esthetic enjoyment of a problem."

 

Jansy Mello: Good to learn that, although it's probably correct to think there's only one key to Pale Fire (to adopt the theory of one or two fictional authors or even to include a real maiden or toad), the enjoyment with  variants can go on, by shifting one's interest to the other "phases" (as potential narrative developments, perhaps related to what, in ADA, Van Veen describes as "time forks"). 

In that case, I suppose, we'd be following closer to VN's mind: his irony, traps and schemes.