Annotations by Alexey Sklyarenko

According to 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), the surname Lukin comes from Luke:

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 he heard from his nurse:

In VN’s novel Ada (1969) poor mad Aqua (the twin sister of Van’s, Ada’s and Lucette’s mother Marina) imagined that she could understand the language of her namesake, water:

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) mentions his uncle Conmal, Duke of Aros, who translated the complete works of Shakespeare into Zemblan:

In his Foreword 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) says that there exist friendships which develop their own inner duration, their own eons of transparent time:

Describing Shade’s murder by Gradus, 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 the inexhaustible lava in Gradus’ bowels:

Describing his first meeting with Shade (the poet in VN’s novel Pale Fire, 1962), Kinbote (Shade’s mad commentator who imagines that he is Charles the Beloved, the last self-exiled king of Zembla) mentions his vegetarianism:

For the flight to France Demon Veen (Van’s and Ada’s father in VN’s novel Ada, 1969) wears a scarlet-silk-lined black cape:

In VN's play Izobretenie Val'sa ("The Waltz Invention," 1938) Salvator Waltz wants the architect to build a fairy-tale palace for him in ten days:  

Гриб. Видите ли, ваше... ваше сиятельство, я, собственно, архитектор.

Вальс. А... так бы сразу и сказали. Глупое недоразумение. Мне от него захотелось есть. Отлично. Вам уже сообщили, что мне нужно?

Гриб. Вам нужен дворец.

The title of VN’s story Time and Ebb (1944) seems to hint at “thy ebb and flow” in P. B. Shelley’s poem Time (1821):