Annotations by Alexey Sklyarenko

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):

Lines 47-48: the frame house between Goldsworth and Wordsmith 

Describing the collection of Uncle Dan’s Oriental Erotica, Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) mentions the picture identified by Uncle Dan as ‘Geisha with 13 lovers:’

Describing his lunch with Lucette at Alphonse Four (Lucette’s hotel in Paris), Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) mentions a naval officer in the azure uniform of the Gulfstream Guards:

Describing his dinner with Ada’s family at the Bellevue Hotel in Mont Roux, Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) mentions Yuzlik (the director of Don Juan’s Last Fling, a film in which Ada played the part of the gitanilla) and two agents of Lemorio, the flamboyant comedian:
 

At the dinner with Ada’s family in the Bellevue Hotel Yuzlik (the director of Don Juan’s Last Fling, a film in which Ada played the part of the gitanilla) tells Van that he is delighted and honored to dine with Vasco de Gama:

Yuzlik was dying to say something. Van yielded to the well-meaning automaton.

‘I’m delighted and honored to dine with Vasco de Gama,’ said Yuzlik holding up his glass in front of his handsome facial apparatus.

According to Kinbote (in VN’s novel Pale Fire, 1962, Shade’s commentator who imagines that he is Charles the Beloved, the last self-exiled king of Zembla), in a theological dispute with him Shade said that the password was Pity:

In VN’s novel Ada (1969) Mademoiselle Larivière (Lucette’s governess) calls Blanche (a French handmaid at Ardis) ‘Cendrillon:’

Describing a party in “Ardis the Second,” Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) mentions Doc Ecksreher (a play on X-rays):

In VN’s novel Ada (1969) Ada’s last letter to Van (in which she tells him that she will marry another man, if he spurns her) ends in the words Tvoya, tvoya, tvoya (thine):

On the eve of his duel with Tapper Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) remembers the morning of the day on which he left Ardis forever and mentally calls Blanche (a French handmaid at Ardis) “a fey character out of some Dormilona novel for servant maids:”