Annotations by Alexey Sklyarenko

In VN’s novel Priglashenie na kazn’ (“Invitation to a Beheading,” 1935) the death sentence is announced to Cincinnatus in a whisper:

Сообразно с законом, Цинциннату Ц. объявили смертный приговор шёпотом. Все встали, обмениваясь улыбками. Седой судья, припав к его уху, подышав, сообщив, медленно отодвинулся, как будто отлипал.

In VN’s novel Priglashenie na kazn’ (“Invitation to a Beheading,” 1935) the mausoleum and the statue of Kapitan Sonnyi (Captain Somnus) are mentioned:

In VN’s novel Priglashenie na kazn’ (“Invitation to a Beheading,” 1935) young Cincinnatus spent the evenings in the Floating Library, in memoriam of Dr Sineokov:

Describing Ada’s eyelids, Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) uses the phrase v skladochku (pleaty):

In VN’s novel Look at the Harlequins! (1974) Other Books by the Narrator include The Red Top Hat (1934):

Since 1925 I had written and published four novels; by the beginning of 1934 I was on the point of completing my fifth, Krasnyy Tsilindr (The Red Top Hat), the story of a beheading. None of those books exceeded ninety thousand words but my method of choosing and blending them could hardly be called a timesaving expedient. (2.2)

At the dinner in Bellevue Hotel Dorothy Vinelander (in VN’s novel Ada, 1969, Ada’s sister-in-law) invites Van to her brother’s ranch and uses the phrase massa interesnago (heaps of interesting stuff):

ANDREY: Adochka, dushka (darling), razskazhi zhe pro rancho, pro skot (tell about the ranch, the cattle), emu zhe lyubopïtno (it cannot fail to interest him).

In VN’s novel Priglashenie na kazn’ (“Invitation to a Beheading,” 1935) Cincinnatus’s brother-in-law sings from an opera:

The narrator and main character in VN’s novel Otchayanie (“Despair,” 1934), Hermann is a chocolate manufacturer. The trademark on the wrapper of Hermann's chocolate shows dama v lilovom (a lady in lilac), with a fan:

Looking for the title of his manuscript, Hermann (the narrator and main character in Despair) considers Zerkalo ("A Mirror"), Skhodstvo (“The Likeness”) and Poet i chern’ (“The Poet and the Rabble”):

On his way to Koenigsdorf Hermann (the narrator and main character in Despair) meets two schoolboys with unpleasant birdlike features that make him think of voronyata (young crows):