Annotations by Alexey Sklyarenko

According to Humbert Humbert (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Lolita, 1955), his wife Charlotte (Lolita’s mother) is a very mediocre mermaid:

According to Humbert Humbert (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Lolita, 1955), his wife Charlotte (Lolita’s mother) is a very mediocre mermaid:

In VN’s novel Korol’, dama, valet (“King, Queen, Knave,” 1928) Dreyer with a mesmeric gesture deposits the inventor in the leathern luxury of an over-stuffed chair:

The name of the Dreyers's dog in VN’s novel Korol’, dama, valet (“King, Queen, Knave,” 1928), Tom seems to hint at Tomski, a character in Pushkin’s story Pikovaya dama (“The Queen of Spades,” 1833). At the end of Pushkin’s story Chekalinski tells Hermann (the mad gambler): Dama vasha ubita (“your queen has lost”). Literally, Chekalinski’s words mean: “your lady is killed.” VN’s novel ends in Martha’s death.

The name of the Dreyers's dog in VN’s novel Korol’, dama, valet (“King, Queen, Knave,” 1928), Tom seems to hint at Tomski, a character in Pushkin’s story Pikovaya dama (“The Queen of Spades,” 1833). At the end of Pushkin’s story Chekalinski tells Hermann (the mad gambler): Dama vasha ubita (“your queen has lost”). Literally, Chekalinski’s words mean: “your lady is killed.” VN’s novel ends in Martha’s death.

In VN's novel Ada (1969) general Durmanov (Van's, Ada's and Lucette's maternal grandfather) wondered why his wife did not call one of her twins Tofana:

As she speaks to Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969), Blanche (a French maid at Ardis) calls Philip Rack (Lucette’s music teacher) l’immonde Monsieur Rack:

At a party in “Ardis the Second” Philip Rack (Lucette’s music teacher in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) mispronounces Thursday “Forestday:”

It is believed that the title of VN’s novel Korol’, dama, valet (“King, Queen, Knave,” 1928) suggests a game of cards and refers back to Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and its “characters without thickness.” But nobody seems to have noticed that in Les regrets, rêveries couleur du temps (“Regrets, Reveries the Color of Time”), the penultimate story in Les Plaisirs et les Jours (“Pleasures and Days,” 1896), Marcel Proust speaks of novels and playing cards and mentions dames, rois ou valets (queens, kings or knaves

According to Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969), he got Ada’s cable in the Engadine: