Annotations by Alexey Sklyarenko

In his 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 Kobaltana (in Kinbote’s Index the entry Kobaltana immediately follows the entry Kinbote, Charles, Dr):

Describing Villa Venus (Eric Veen’s floramors), Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) mentions Eric’s grandfather David van Veen, a wealthy architect of Flemish extraction who built one hundred memorial floramors (palatial brothels) all over the world:

According to Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969), Blanche (the French handmaid at Ardis) called Ada “Van’s avournine:”

At the beginning of Ada’s last chapter Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) mentions Nirvana, Nevada and Vaniada:

In one of her letters to Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) written after Van left Ardis forever Ada admits that she is being coy and obscene:

[California? 1890]

In a humorous quatrain quoted by Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) ‘Black Miller’ mentions a new bambino:

At the family dinner in “Ardis the Second” Demon Veen (Van’s and Ada’s father) complains that Jones’ pant made his soup ripple:

Describing the family dinner in “Ardis the Second,” Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) says that the alcohol was instrumental, as usual, in reopening what Demon (Van’s and Ada’s father) gallicistically called condemned doors:

In his Commentary 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) quotes the first two lines of Goethe’s Erlkönig (1782) in Zemblan translation:

Line 662: Who rides so late in the night and the wind

When Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) and Greg Erminin meet in Paris, Van asks Greg if his wife, born Maude Sween, is the daughter of the poet: