Annotations by Alexey Sklyarenko

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.

The action in VN's novel Ada (1969) takes place on Demonia (Earth's twin planet also known as Antiterra). Describing the difference between Terra and Antiterra, Van Veen (the narrator and main character) mentions Terrestrial spatial terms:

In the Kalugano hospital Dr Fitzbishop (a character in VN's novel Ada, 1969) tells Van (who recovers from a wound received in a pistol duel with Captain Tapper, of Wild Violet Lodge) that Philip Rack (Lucette's music teacher who was poisoned by his jealous wife and who dies in Ward Five where hopeless cases are kept) was poisoned with the not always lethal 'arethusoides:'

Explaning a cryptic hydrogram from Chicago, Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN's novel Ada, 1969) tells his father that he has to see a mad girl artist called Doris or Odris who draws only gee-gees and sugar daddies: