Annotations by Alexey Sklyarenko

At the end of his Commentary 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 a Zemblan saying that, as a child, he has heard from his nurse:

In VN’s novel Ada (1969) Ada mentally transliterates the name of her gynecologist, Seitz (Dr Krolik’s cousin), as Zayats (“Dr Hare”):

In a letter of July 14, 1959, to Gleb Struve VN parodies Pasternak’s style in Doctor Zivago (1957) and mentions St. Pafnuty’s Day:

Dear Gleb Petrovich,

Describing his visit to Brownhill (Ada’s school for girls), Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) mentions his Chose Professor who argues that a novel which can be appreciated only by quelque petite blanchisseuse who has examined the author’s dirty linen is, artistically, a failure:

They talked about their studies and teachers, and Van said:

Describing his first summer at Ardis, Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) mentions Ardisville (a place near Ladore):

In the epilogue of VN’s novel Ada (1969) Ada suggests that, after her death, Van should marry a local Gauguin girl or Yolande Kickshaw:

Nirvana, Nevada, Vaniada. By the way, should I not add, my Ada, that only at the very last interview with poor dummy-mummy, soon after my premature — I mean, premonitory — nightmare about, ‘You can, Sir,’ she employed mon petit nom, Vanya, Vanyusha — never had before, and it sounded so odd, so tend... (voice trailing off, radiators tinkling).

Describing his dinner in ‘Ursus’ (the best Franco-Estotian restaurant in Manhattan Major) with Ada and Lucette, Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) mentions the velvet cheek of his Cupidon peach:

Telling Van about Ada’s infidelity, Blanche (in VN’s novel Ada, 1969, the French handmaid at Ardis) calls one of Ada’s lovers, Lucette’s music teacher, “l’immonde Monsieur Rack:”

The children of Demon Veen and Marina Durmanov, Van and Ada (the two main characters in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) are officially maternal cousins and can marry only by special decree:

They walked through a grove and past a grotto.

Ada said: ‘Officially we are maternal cousins, and cousins can marry by special decree, if they promise to sterilize their first five children. But, moreover, the father-in-law of my mother was the brother of your grandfather. Right?’

After Van’s and Ada’s death Mr. Ronald Oranger (in VN’s novel Ada, 1969, old Van’s secretary and the editor of Ada) marries Violet Knox, old Van’s typist whom Ada called ‘Fialochka’ (little Violet):