Annotations by Alexey Sklyarenko

In VN’s novel Ada (1969) two gypsy courtesans predicted to Van that he would never have children:

Describing his sexual dreams, Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) mentions a dream in which Ada and Lucette slake their thirst in the pool of his blood:

In a conversation with Van Ada pronounces on purpose (so as to play on an obscene Russian verb) the French word ébats (frolics) with a Russian accent:

Describing Lucette’s visit to Kingston, Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) mentions baby serpents and Lucette’s pretty viper tongue:

She unclicked her black-silk handbag, fished out a handkerchief and, leaving the gaping bag on the edge of the sideboard, went to the farthest window and stood there, her fragile shoulders shaking unbearably.

Van noticed a long, blue, violet-sealed envelope protruding from the bag.

According to Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969), by the L disaster (that happened on Antiterra in the middle of the 19th century) he does not mean Elevated:

In VN’s novel Ada (1969) Van and Ada discuss Ada’s dramatic career and Van mentions Dawn en robe rose et verte (in a pink and green dress):

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), the surname Lukin (the maiden name of Shade’s mother) comes from Luke:

In VN’s novel Ada (1969) Ada calls the period of her first separation with Van “our black rainbow” and mentions a grille of rain:

Telling about the life and work of Conmal (Shakespeare’s translator into Zemblan), 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 uncle’s frogged uniform:

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), the King saw Disa for the first time at a masked ball in his uncle’s palace: