Pale Fire created by Kinbote, features an entry for a "Botkin, V.," describing this Botkin as an "American scholar of Russian descent"—and referring to a note in the Commentary on line 894 of Shade's poem, in which no such person is directly mentioned but a character suggests that "Kinbote" is "a kind of anagram of Botkin or Botkine". In this interpretation, "Gradus" the murderer is an American named Jack Grey who wanted to kill Judge Goldsworth, whose house "Pale Fire's" commentator—whatever his "true" name is—is renting. Goldsworth had condemned Grey to an asylum from which he escaped shortly before mistakenly killing Shade,
Gainsboro, Roanoke, Virginia as the center of Roanoke's African American community with Henry Street serving as the cultural and commercial center of the community. The urban renewal programs of the 1960s and 1970s displaced many families and businesses in the neighborhood and changed the overall urban fabric and character of the area. Today the neighborhood is seeing redevelopment, especially in the areas surrounding the Hotel Roanoke. Established in the 1970s, the Gainsboro Neighborhood Alliance has served as the citizen advocacy group for the community. Located in the neighborhood and listed on the National Register of Historic Places are the Burrell Memorial Hospital, Gainsboro