Annotations by Alexey Sklyarenko

On July 7, 1959, Jakob Gradus (one of the three main characters in VN's novel Pale Fire, 1962, Shade's murderer) visits Oswin Bretwit (the former Zemblan consul) in Paris:

In Canto One of his poem John Shade (the poet in VN’s novel Pale Fire, 1962) describes his childhood and mentions "the svelte Stilettos of a frozen stillicide" and "trophies of the eaves" (as Shade calls icicles):

All colors made me happy: even gray.

My eyes were such that literally they

Took photographs. Whenever I'd permit,

Or, with a silent shiver, order it,

Whatever in my field of vision dwelt -

Describing his rented house, Kinbote (in VN’s novel Pale Fire, 1962, Shade’s mad commentator who imagines that he is Charles the Beloved, the last self-exiled king of Zembla) mentions his landlord’s four daughters (Alphina, Betty, Candida and Dee):

The characters in VN's novel Dar ("The Gift," 1937) include civil engineer Kern who closely knew the late Alexander Blok:

Describing his visit to Brownhill (Ada's school for girls) in the fall of 1884, Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN's novel Ada, 1969) says that Ada's breath smelled of ether:

Describing his rented house, Kinbote (in VN’s novel Pale Fire, 1962, Shade’s mad commentator who imagines that he is Charles the Beloved, the last self-exiled king of Zembla) says that he has no desire to twist and batter an unambiguous apparatus criticus into the monstrous semblance of a novel:

Describing his rented house, Kinbote (in VN’s novel Pale Fire, 1962, Shade’s mad commentator who imagines that he is Charles the Beloved, the last self-exiled king of Zembla) mentions the atmosphere of damnum infectum in which he was supposed to dwell:

Describing his second road trip with Lolita across the USA, Humbert Humbert (the narrator and main character in VN's novel Lolita, 1955) mentions Kasbeam, a town where a very old barber gave him a very mediocre haircut:

Describing Gradus’s visit to Oswin Bretwit (the former Zemblan consul in Paris), Kinbote (in VN’s novel Pale Fire, 1962, Shade’s mad commentator who imagines that he is Charles the Beloved, the last self-exiled king of Zembla) mentions Zule Bretwit, Mayor of Odevalla:

Describing Gradus’s visit to Oswin Bretwit (the former Zemblan consul in Paris), Kinbote (in VN’s novel Pale Fire, 1962, Shade’s mad commentator who imagines that he is Charles the Beloved, the last self-exiled king of Zembla) mentions Ferz Bretwit, Mayor of Aros: