Annotations by Alexey Sklyarenko

According to Humbert Humbert (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Lolita, 1955), it took him fifty-six days (eight weeks) to write Lolita:

In VN’s novel Lolita (1955) the number 342 reappears three times. 342 Lawn Street is the address of the Haze house in Ramsdale. 342 is Humbert Humbert's and Lolita's room in The Enchanted Hunters (a hotel in Briceland where they spend their first night together). According to Humbert Humbert, between July 5 and November 18, 1949, he registered (if not actually stayed) at 342 hotels, motels and tourist homes.

The narrator and main character in VN's novel Otchayanie (“Despair,” 1934), Hermann is an atheist:

According to John Ray, Jr. (in VN’s novel Lolita, 1955, the author of the Foreword to Humbert’s manuscript), Humbert Humbert had died in legal captivity, of coronary thrombosis, on November 16, 1952, a few days before his trial was scheduled to start:

In VN’s novel Ada (1969) Van’s and Ada’s Uncle Dan is also known as Durak Walter or simply Red Veen:

In VN’s novel Ada (1969) the action takes place on Demonia, Earth’s twin planet also known as Antiterra. Describing the difference between Terra and Antiterra, Van Veen (the narrator and main character in Ada) mentions our enchanters, our demons:

Describing the patio party on the next day after his arrival in “Ardis the Second,” Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) mentions G. A. Vronsky (the movie man who makes a film of Mlle Larivière’s novel Les Enfants Maudits) sipping his vodka-and-tonic:

Describing Demon’s visit to Ardis in the summer of 1888, Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) mentions dead Demon’s ‘crimes’ about which Marina used to ramble on in the late Eighteen-Nineties:

Describing Ardis Hall, Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) mentions an old ‘jikker’ or skimmer, a blue magic rug with Arabian designs:

Describing the death of his, Ada’s and Lucette’s mother Marina (the twin sister of Demon's poor mad wife Aqua), Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) mentions three elements (fire, water and air) and uses the word naperekor (in spite of):