Annotations by Alexey Sklyarenko

In his Commentary to Shade’s poem 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) cites a discarded variant and wonders if some obscure intuition, some prophetic scruple prevented Shade from spelling out the name of an eminent man who happened to be an intimate friend of his:

A beautiful variant, with one curious gap, branches off at this point in the draft (dated July 6):

In his Foreword to Shade’s poem 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 good old Frank, his present publisher:

Describing the King’s escape from Zembla, 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 King’s repeater that he pressed to find out what is the time:

Describing the poltergeist phenomena in Shades’ 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 moskovett, a cold wind that blows on Zemblan eastern shores throughout March:

When Charles the Beloved (the last self-exiled King of Zembla) visits his wife, Queen Disa, at her Mediterranean villa, he brings her a bouquet of flowers-of-the-gods:

In VN’s novel Pale Fire (1962) Kinbote (Shade’s mad commentator who imagines that he is Charles the Beloved, the last self-exiled king of Zembla) quotes a Zemblan saying in which a beautiful woman is compared to a compass rose:

In his apology of suicide 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 a cell in the luminous waffle, room 1915 or 1959:

A son of Colonel Peter Gusev (King Alfin’s ‘aerial adjutant’), Oleg Gusev (Prince Charles’ beloved playmate) is Duke of Rahl:

According to 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), young Prince Charles and his playmate Oleg were handsome, long-legged specimens of Varangian boyhood:

Aсcording to M'sieur Pierre, the executioner in VN’s novel Priglashenie na kazn’ (“Invitation to a Beheading,” 1935), he is vyshnegradets (an Elderburian):