Annotations by Alexey Sklyarenko

In a conversation at the Faculty Club Shade (the poet in VN’s novel Pale Fire, 1962) says that kings do not die - they only disappear and Kinbote (Shade's mad commentator who imagines that he is Charles the Beloved, the last self-exiled king of Zembla) mentions Flatman:

Shade [smiling and massaging my knee]: "Kings do not die - they only disappear, eh, Charles?"

In Canto Two of his poem Shade (the poet in VN’s novel Pale Fire, 1962) speaks of his dead daughter and mentions the talks with Socrates and Proust in cypress walks:

In his Commentary and Index 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 Nodo, the half-brother of Odon (pseudonym of Donald O'Donnell, b. 1915, world-famous actor and Zemblan patriot who helps the king to escape from Zembla), and mad Mandevil, a cousin of the King's throne page (Baron Radomir Mandevil, b. 1925, man of fashion and Zemblan patriot):

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) mentions Amphitheatricus, a writer of fugitive poetry who dubbed Onhava (the capital of Zembla) "Uranograd:"

In VN’s short novel Soglyadatay (“The Eye,” 1930) Roman Bogdanovich asks Vanya to play the piano and quotes Pushkin’s poem Prorok (“The Prophet,” 1826):

- Вы играете? - любезно спросил Смурова Роман Богданович, многозначительно косясь на рояль.

- Играл когда-то, - спокойно ответил Смуров, поднял крышку, мечтательно посмотрел на оскал клавиатуры и опустил крышку опять.

In a letter to Van Ada mentions Marina’s new director of artistic conscience who defines Infinity as the farthest point from the camera which is still in fair focus:

In reply to Ada’s question how many times has he been unfaithful to her since September, 1884, Van says “six hundred and thirteen times” and mentions "obmanipulations" (sham, insignificant strokings by unremembered cold hands):

‘But let me ask you, dear Van, let me ask you something. How many times has Van been unfaithful to me since September, 1884?’

In the Night of the Burning Barn (when Van and Ada make love for the first time) Ada drops the shoe lost by Blanche (a French maid at Ardis) in a wastepaper basket and, after joining Van on the divan, mentions a soldier who thought that ‘Tartuffe’ was a tart or a stripteaser:

In my old article “Ada as a Triple Dream” (The Nabokovian, #53, Fall 2004) I argue that, like Lermontov’s poem Son (“A Dream,” 1841), Ada is a triple dream (a dream within a dream within a dream) dreamt by three different people: Eric Veen (the young author of an essay entitled “Villa Venus: an Organized Dream”), Van Veen (the narrator and main character in Ada) and VN himself.

In his essay "The Texture of Time" (1922) Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) mentions his eighth birthday and uses the word “eureka:”