Annotations by Alexey Sklyarenko

In a conversation with Monsieur Wilde in the lounge of the Ascot Hotel in Witt (a Swiss mountain resort) Hugh Person (the main character in VN's novel Transparent Things, 1972) mentions the celestial nature of solitary confinement:

In VN’s novel Ada (1969) poor mad Aqua (the twin sister of Van’s, Ada’s and Lucette’s mother Marina) imagines that she can understand the language of her namesake, water:

Describing Gradus' visit to Joe Lavender's Villa Libitina, 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 photographs of the artistic type called in French ombrioles collected by Joe Lavender:

On the morning after the dinner in ‘Ursus’ (the best Franco-Estotian restaurant in Manhattan Major), just before the debauch à trois, Ada (the title character in VN's novel Ada, 1969) calls her and Van's half-sister Lucette “pet:”

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 King Thurgus the Third, surnamed the Turgid (the grandfather of Charles the Beloved), and his mistress Iris Acht (a celebrated actress):

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 young Baron Mandevil (a man of fashion and Zemblan patriot) and his cousin, a member of the Shadows (a regicidal organization):

Describing his landlord's 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 Judge Goldsworth's four daughters: Alphina, Betty, Candida and Dee:

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 Yeslove, a fine town north of Onhava (the capital of Zembla):

Describing his first night with Lolita in The Enchanted Hunters (a hotel in Briceland), Humbert Humbert (the narrator and main character in VN's novel Lolita, 1955) calls Lolita die Kleine (Germ., the little one) and mentions her grimace, a routine blend of comic disgust, resignation and tolerance for young frailty:

Before the family dinner in "Ardis the Second" Demon Veen (in VN's novel Ada, 1969, Van's and Ada's father) calls Blanche (a French handmaid at Ardis) "a passing angel:"

Demon shed his monocle and wiped his eyes with the modish lace-frilled handkerchief that lodged in the heart pocket of his dinner jacket. His tear glands were facile in action when no real sorrow made him control himself.