Annotations by Alexey Sklyarenko

Describing the beginning of his life-long romance with Ada, Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) mentions Pig Pigment (as Ada calls Paul G. Gigment, a painter):

During Van's first tea party at Ardis Marina (in VN's novel Ada, 1969, Van's, Ada's and Lucette's mother) says that Dostoevski loved tea with raspberry syrup:

Describing his dinner with Ada (now married to Andrey Vinelander) and her family at Bellevue Hotel in Mont Roux, Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) mentions the two agents of Lemorio, the flamboyant comedian:

At the beginning of VN's novel Ada (1969) Van Veen (the narrator and main character) mentions Pontius Press (a publishing house):

Describing Flavita (the Russian Scrabble), Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) mentions Baron Klim Avidov, an old friend of the family who gave Marina's children (Van, Ada and their half-sister Lucette) a set of Flavita:

Describing his final reunion with Ada in July 1922, Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) mentions the huge memorable oil — three ample-haunched Ledas swapping lacustrine impressions — that had been replaced by a neoprimitive masterpiece showing three yellow eggs and a pair of plumber’s gloves on what looked like wet bathroom tiling:

According to Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969), Marina (Van's, Ada's and Lucette's mother) confessed with an enigmatic and rather smug smile that much as she liked the rhythmic blue puffs of incense, and the dyakon’s rich growl on the ambon, and the oily-brown ikon coped in protective filigree to receive the worshipper’s kiss, her soul remained irrevocably consecrated, naperekor (in spite of) Dasha Vinelander, to the ultimate wisdom o

Describing his conversation with Demon (Van's and Ada's father who just discovered that his children are lovers), Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) mentions the Nuremberg Old Maid's iron sting (an allusion to the iron maiden of Nuremberg, a medieval instrument of torture):

Demon Veen (in VN's novel Ada, 1969, Van's and Ada's father) learns about his children's affair by chance, thanks to Daniel Veen's odd Boschean death. Uncle Dan's father died in the library of Ardis Hall (where, in the Night of the Burning Barn, Van and Ada make love for the first time):

The narrator and main character in VN's novel Otchayanie ("Despair," 1934), Hermann Karlovich wonders if it is indeed a crime in itself for two people to be as alike as two drops of blood: