Vladimir Nabokov

Annotations by Alexey Sklyarenko

Description

Please read Alexey Sklyarenko's annotations on Pale FireAda and other Nabokov works here.

katrakatra (quatre à quatre) in Ada Alexey Sklyarenko

In her letter to Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN's novel Ada, 1969) that Lucette (Van's and Ada's half-sister) brings to Kingston (Van's American University) Ada says that something is very wrong with the Ladore line: 

 

sauces & immortality in Lolita Alexey Sklyarenko

According to Humbert Humbert (the narrator and main character in VN's novel Lolita, 1955), his trying to improve on Charlotte's sauces resulted in an upset stomach:

 

Clarence Choate Clark, Esq. & Barbara Burke in Lolita Alexey Sklyarenko

In his Foreword to Humbert Humbert’s manuscript John Ray, Jr. (a character in VN's novel Lolita, 1955) mentions his good friend and relation, Clarence Choate Clark, Esq. (Humbert’s lawyer):

 

reading History (Sale Histoire) at Chose Alexey Sklyarenko

During Van’s first tea party at Ardis Marina (in VN’s novel Ada, 1969, Van’s, Ada’s and Lucette’s mother) says that, as a girl, she used to love history and mentions Dostoevski:

 

certain morbid states & perversions in Lolita Alexey Sklyarenko

In his Foreword to Humbert Humbert's manuscript John Ray, Jr. (a character in VN's novel Lolita, 1955) mentions his modest work (“Do the Senses make Sense?”) wherein certain morbid states and perversions had been discussed:

 

smithy smothered in jasmine in Ada Alexey Sklyarenko

Describing his first arrival at Ardis, Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN's novel Ada, 1969) mentions Torfyanka, a dreamy hamlet consisting of three or four log izbas, a milkpail repair shop and a smithy smothered in jasmine:

 

Van's amorous mood in Ada Alexey Sklyarenko

According to Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN's novel Ada, 1969), the pink-blooming chestnuts of Chose (Van's English University) always induced in him an amorous mood:

 

round creamy charms of Bronzino’s Cupid in Ada Alexey Sklyarenko

Describing his first erotic experience at Riverlane (Van's boarding school), Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN's novel Ada, 1969) mentions the round creamy charms of Bronzino’s Cupid:

 

Van's first prison term & Chose University in Ada Alexey Sklyarenko

Describing the picnic on Ada's twelfth birthday, when he walks on his hands for the first time, Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN's novel Ada, 1969) compares his Riverlane boarding school to a prison:

 

reading History at Chose in Ada Alexey Sklyarenko

In her letter to Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN's novel Ada, 1969) Ada Vinelander (Van's sister and lover who is now married to Andrey Vinelander) says that her sister-in-law, Dorothy Vinelander (Dasha), finished Chose where she read History: