Annotations by Alexey Sklyarenko

In his Lectures on Russian Literature VN tells an anecdote about old Tolstoy starting to read a book at random and not recognizing his own stuff:

Describing Flavita (the Russian Scrabble), Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) says that at chess Ada was not as good as at Flavita and mentions Lalla Rookh chessmen:

Describing his verbal nightmare that he had a few days before he his mother for the last time, Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) mentions the musky smell in the Miramas (Bouches Rouges-du-Rhône) Villa Venus:

After Van's and Ada's beastly, but beautiful, tryst at Forest Fork Ada mutters about gipsies stealing their jeeps:

Describing his verbal nightmare that he had a few days before he saw Marina for the last time, Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) mentions the musky smell in the Miramas (Bouches Rouges-du-Rhône) Villa Venus:

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:

Describing the childhood travels of Ada and Lucette with their mother, Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) mentions Marina’s friend, the theatrical big shot, Gran D. du Mont:

According to Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969), Eric Veen (the young author of an essay entitled ‘Villa Venus: an Organized Dream’) derived his project from reading too many erotic works found in a furnished house his grandfather had bought near Vence from Count Tolstoy, a Russian or Pole:

Describing the difference between Terra and Antiterra (aka Demonia, Earth’s twin planet), Van Veen (the narrator and main character in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) mentions the Amerussia of Abraham Milton:

At the beginning of Ada’s last chapter Van Veen (the narrator and main character in Ada, 1969) mentions Nirvana (in Hinduism and Buddhism, the highest state that someone can attain, a state of enlightenment, meaning a person's individual desires and suffering go away):